Shattered
by Full Moon Productions
Summary: Juice and Mathilde feel out of reason now that their suicide attempts fail. When they meet at a group therapy they find more than just hope, love, and friendship among each other but also danger. Inspired by the song Shattered by Trading Yesterday
1. Lost Souls

Juice rode into the driveway of the garage, he was a half hour late from clocking in but nowadays he didn't really care. Not since he tried to take his life away, he just felt like each day was a haze to him. Not just because of failing to take his life, but because now he saw what his life made up of. Nothing. Everyone else had found their calling, Chibs just became a father to his Old Lady, Opie had just recently worked out relationship issues with his wife, Jax was made president, Clay was banished from the table, Tig started to hang out with his daughters a lot more, and Bobby just became a grandfather.

"There you are, about time!" Gemma was waiting by the door as Juice squeezed in and worked his time card. "Another sleepless night, huh? Maybe you should take some time off. Really, baby. You look worn out, it's not you at all. Jax will understand"

Juice turned and smiled. "Sorry. It won't happen again. I promise"

Gemma didn't look convinced at all but nodded her head as Juice walked through the door and into the garage, he didn't even last five steps before he felt a rough hand on the back of his neck, leading him into a corner where Gemma wouldn't see them. Juice sighed as he turned around and met Jax's eyes. "Sorry"

"Save it" Jax cut in and looked around to see if anyone was watching their discussion, when he was satisfied that he didn't have to move Juice to the clubhouse, he turned back to the hacker and took a step closer.

"I'm getting better" Juice lied.

"Yeah right, my mom is getting suspicious, and that says a lot" Jax told him. "You need to get help"

Jax continued. "And I mean it. Or you're out"

Juice blinked to him in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah, I said it" Jax sighed and let his gentle side take over. "You're worrying me, you're worrying Chibs. Juice, we care about you, brother. I don't want everyone else to figure out what really happened to you"

Juice sighed. "So then it comes in between me and the club?"

"You already knew that was going to happen" Jax countered.

Juice shifted his feet and looked around at the garage, no one seemed to notice their conversation but one person... Chibs was standing on the opposite side of the corner, slowly wiping his hands. No doubt, he told Jax to have a word with him. Chibs and Monique have been begging for Juice to get help, but seeing how he didn't budge, that made Chibs turn to Jax for support. Chibs has been like a father to Juice once he was patched in, a father he never had. If he didn't owe it to the club he definitely owed it to him.

"What do I have to do?" Juice asked.

Jax took out a brochure from his back pocket, it was a suicide group therapy. Juice rolled his eyes and sighed. "They meet once a week on Wednesdays" Jax said to him.

"I knew you were going to make me do some border line gay shit" Juice mumbled as he took the brochure.

Mathilde groaned as white lights peered through her eyelids. She moved her arms and felt pain go through her wrists. That's when she remembered sitting in her bathroom cutting her wrists to end her life of being the abused girlfriend. At first, she thought it was heaven, until she opened her eyes to a hospital room.

"Oh shit" Mathilde muttered.

"Matty" she heard a soft voice, making her jump. She looked around and noticed a blast from the past: it was her older cousin Wendy Case in the corner, she slowly got up and sat down on the bed.

"What are you doing here, Wendy?" Mathilde asked.

"I was starting a program until I got a phone call from the hospital, Mathilde" Wendy said to her.

"They didn't call my parents?" she asked.

"They did, Matty" Wendy nodded.

'Figures that they wouldn't come' she thought. Their only daughter being with an abusive boyfriend whom they both matched her with was enough but to hear that she's in the hospital for taking her life? They would rather hide then support her. "I'm sorry"

"Sorry for pulling me out of a meeting or from trying to take your life?" Wendy asked and when Mathilde didn't answer, she asked in a softer tone. "Why did you do it?"

"You've been gone a long time" she answered.

"Doesn't mean you can't call, Matty" Wendy told her.

"And tell you what?" Mathilde snapped. "That I couldn't stand living with that man?"

"You could've went to the police. You could've done a million things besides trying to take your life" Wendy said with aggression. "You could've said no, Matty, you didn't have to stay with him because your parents matched you with him"

Wendy looked to her and noticed that Mathilde just started to cry softly. "Mathilde"

"Wendy" she opened up her arms and her cousin leaned down and held her younger cousin to her. "Wendy. I'm scared. What do I do, I tried getting away. Now what, he knows I'm alive"

Wendy got up and smoothed out Mathilde's hair. "Get help, that's all you can do. Go to a group therapy"

"With weirdos? Are you crazy?" Mathilde wiped her tears away.

"Mathilde, you just tried to take your life. You're now a weirdo" Wendy said seriously. "It's the only way you can get through. It helped me with my drug addiction, you should do it too. You can stay at my place until after your session. After that, we can look for an apartment for you"

"I know I don't have a choice in this, Wendy. Either go to therapy or go back to him. I know for a fact you wouldn't let me go back. I'll try it, I just hope it helps, I guess... I'm alive for a reason"

**Who is Monique? **She is a character I made up for my Chibs love story not too long ago, her story is that she is Bobby's daughter and always had a crush on Chibs for more then she could remember. She goes to Israel for college and comes back, her dad's house is remodeling so she crashes at Chibs' for a while. Then after a while they formed a secret relationship where Bobby finds out and separates them. During that time, Monique finds out she's pregnant with Chibs' baby and doesn't break it until she is under his roof once again. They have a son named Benjamin Telford.

**Mathilde Case= Ashley Olsen**


	2. Group Therapy

Juice rolled his bike up to the parking lot, he turned off his engine as he stared at the church-like building. He sighed and looked down the street to see a big black van pull up on the side, the prospects were following him to this meeting. "This is gonna blow, man. Fucking hate this shit already" he hopped off of this bike, took off his helmet and glasses before waltzing inside.

He opened the door to a typical stage room where half the seats were full, he quickly went over to the nearest seat toward the group but far away enough to be the first one out. Juice sat down and looked to his left to see a small woman with her wavy blonde hair around her face, she turned and looked at him with her big doe-eyed blue eyes. Juice thought she looked familiar but couldn't quite place it or even bother to ask before the man got up onto the stage.

"Welcome! I'm glad to see a lot of people here!" the counselor yelled out.

_'Glad to see a lot of people that tried to commit suicide? Really?'_ Juice thought to himself as he sighed.

"This is a great first step for everyone here" the counselor continued as he paced the stage. "Some of you are here because you are having thoughts of committing suicide, some of you had people close to you who did commit suicide, and others have tried to commit suicide and thankfully failed"

Juice noticed that at the last words, the woman next to him tugged on her sleeves, shrank down and folded them across her chest. He snapped out of his daze and noticed that he too was rubbing his neck where the bruise was visible for weeks.

"You're not alone" the man said. "We're all here to comfort each other"

_'Yeah. Unless they came by force, what group is that under?' _Juice thought.

"When you have the courage to come up to this stage and tell your story, then just raise your hand and I will stop my session in order for you to speak your mind" the counselor said.

As the counselor continued with what he does in helping the group therapy, Mathilde wanted more then anything to get out of the room. There was only two things in her way as of right now; one, was the man who sat down at the end of the row from her and the other was that Wendy was waiting just outside in case Mathilde wanted to bolt.

"Now! Let's introduce ourselves!" the counselor said. "That is one of the first things to do. Get to know each other personally. Knowing the names is a perfect step to showing your not alone. We can all help and grow together"

_'Great. I tried to kill myself and I woke up in between reality and hell' _Mathilde thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. _'When does this session end? That's what I want to know'_

"Let's start with the back" he pointed to the man sitting near Mathilde.

_'Really? You start in the back? Awesome!' _Mathilde wanted to yell out.

The guy looked out of it and wasn't prepared at all to be the first, he pointed to his chest. "Me?" when the counselor nodded, the man got up. "My name is Juan Ortiz. But my friends call me Juice"

Mathilde noticed something familiar about Juice, his patch. Wendy used to be married to a motorcycle guy who bore the same patch. Meaning he was from Charming also, the patch meant that he was a Son of Anarchy. But what was he doing here at a suicide convention?

The counselor nodded a greeting and pointed to Mathilde, she sighed and stood up so everyone could see her. She took off her hood so people could get a good look at her. "Hi. I'm Mathilde Case but people call me Matty"

"Wendy..." she heard Juice say as she sat down, she looked to him.

"You know my cousin, huh?" she whispered. "I didn't think you would pay attention to the wives as much as the bikes"

"She was a great person" Juice complimented. "Even when she tried to overdose when she had a kid"

"Oh yeah, she had a son" Mathilde nodded as she peered and noticed that they were still introducing people around.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. She was, kind of out of control" Juice said and shrugged. "Even when she reminded me of Gemma, the bad way. When she likes to taunt. And try to scare you. It worked almost all of the time"

"She's in the parking lot if you want to say hi" Mathilde pointed to the exit.

"No. That's alright" Juice objected.

"Okay. She just came into town, apparently, before, this happened" Mathilde waved to the whole room, remembering her somber mood from before.

"I didn't know that" Juice said. "I thought she was in... sober living. From the last I heard"

"She completed the program" Mathilde said.

"Really, good for her" Juice nodded. "She must be really strong, having to go into sober living just after having to give a C-section"

"How is he?" Mathilde asked. "The baby. And Jax"

"The baby's name is Abel, he's turning three really soon" Juice filled her in. "Jax is fine. Lost another Old Lady, Tara. Let's just say that she turned out to be the same girl that graduated their high school"

"Oh, I remember Wendy saying something about a Tara, she likes to steal men" Mathilde recalled.

"Yeah, nothing changed. We all believed her bluff. Not until someone from her past exposed her" Juice said. (F.Y.I. That was Monique in my previous story) "Still, he's not the same. He really needs support with Abel"

"W-Well, Wendy would be more than welcomed to help" Mathilde put in.

"Jax is stubborn. He would give Wendy a good fight before letting her through" Juice objected.

"I'm pretty sure my cousin knows that by now, she did marry him. Must've meant something" Mathilde shrugged as she noticed that the name game finally went up to the front row.

"You do have a point" Juice nodded. "So- You live in Charming. All your life?"

"Somewhat, my Wendy's side of the family lives here" Mathilde tugged at her sleeves just the thought of her condo with her ex, she still got hate mail from him to this day.

"Nice. What made you come to Charming, it's pretty boring there" Juice told her. "I grew up in Queens and glad that I wasn't raised here"

"Well. To me, it's the sense of security, and I need it" She took a quick glance down towards her wrists, her eyes x-rayed through her clothes and were staring at the deep red marks. "Even if it's boring, it's better then where I came from. Even if I didn't take that long of a travel, I always loved coming here to visit my cousin when I was little"

She looked over and noticed that the last person got up, she turned back to Juice. "Call me Matty"

Juice nodded. "Juice"

"Alright!" the counselor clapped his hands as they both turned their attention toward the front. "Good, let's start the progress. It's going to be a long one"

_'Sadly' _she thought then took a sideways glance toward Juice. _'Or maybe not'_

"But trust me, if you need help we are all here for you" the counselor spoke out. "Not just me. The people sitting around you. You can help each other on personal experiences"

_'Right, I can barely look at my scars right now' _Mathilde thought.

"I'm here to push you through this tough time- I had a brother who committed suicide, so we are all linked together by ripples of the effects" the counselor said.

_'The only person that I seemed to effect was my cousin' _Mathilde thought glumly.

"In a minute, I will tell you the story of before it happened, when it happened, and the effects that happened after he died. I hope everyone will get a chance to come up onto this stage and tell their tale. You will feel relieved on letting out the frustrations. It may be scary at first, but that's why we are all here"

_'Not as scary as an abusive boyfriend' _Mathilde thought. _'Or, pressuring parents. Putting a razor to your wrist. I can name a lot of things in my life that have been scary but this isn't one of them, but it still got to me' _She looked to Juice, whom, she caught looking at her. He did a quick smile before turning back to the speaker. _'Still. What was a Son of Anarchy doing here? And what was his tale that led up to this moment?'_


	3. His Job

Juice slammed down the hood of a car and took his time stretching. He was under the hood for more than an hour trying to fix the damn car from the 19th century so the feeling felt very rewarding to him as his back slowly cracked.

"Juice" he turned and noticed Bobby coming up to him. "Check that hot shit out. She's like... fucking wow"

He turned and nearly gawked as Mathilde came out of the tow truck with Opie. When he saw her on Wednesday night she was wearing skin tight jeans and long sleeves. Now in the day, he saw she was wearing boots, a jean skirt, and a tank top. He also noticed some misplaced sleeves covering from her wrist to her elbows, Juice ducked behind the car as she scanned the place as Opie read something to her on paper.

"Shit- brother, I know her" he said in a low voice. "We met- not too long ago. She's Wendy's cousin. Or some shit like that. I just don't want to have her see me here"

"Oh! That makes sense, well-" Bobby covered his mouth and shouted. "Opie, I need you for a sec! Juice can help her out..." he turned to the young Puerto Rican. "have a nice time"

Juice glared at the fat man as he slowly straightened up, Mathilde was shading her eyes and looking in his direction. He gave off a sheepish grin before walking out of the garage and over to Opie, he handed the files to him then the tall man left to go wherever Bobby decided he needed 'help' on.

"I didn't know you worked here" Matty said to him as Juice scanned the papers.

"Yeah. Well-" he looked up at the sign. "My sense of security, in a way- So, what are you here for. Your engine blew out? And... no coolant"

"Wendy said that that piece of shit of a car had enough" she waved over to the car still hooked onto the tow truck.

"Oh... there's your problem" Juice smiled at her as Matty raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, you know- It was a-a, stupid joke" Juice stumbled on his words. "I'm sorry. That was really stupid"

"Don't worry about it" Matty shook her head as a smile formed on her lips.

"No, really, I didn't- she's your cousin, she's helping you" Juice still tried to explain himself.

"Can we just get to the signing?" Matty asked, trying to skip the whole scenario of Juice trying to apologize to her for something that was actually kind of hilarious to her.

"Alright, okay, let's do that... r-right" Juice could practically kill himself now, why was he so worked up on just one chick at his work? "Sorry... I just, didn't expect you to come by, you know, not a lot of people... know"

Matty nodded, getting the under meaning of his words. "You think I would tell your workers where you were on Wednesday?"

"No!" Juice yelled out.

"It's okay" Matty smiled to him. "That's our little secret. I wouldn't say a word to anyone"

"Thanks" Juice smiled to her. "Do you have a ride home?"

"Wendy, she's coming within the hour" Matty answered back and immediately regretted it, maybe he would've given her a ride home. "She's just finishing up a meeting. I didn't want her to meet me here. Who knows what Jax and Wendy would do if they started throwing knives at each other"

Juice laughed. "Probably just that"

Matty laughed with him. "So when will my car be done by?"

"We have a lot of cars in the back already... it might take a-" Matty shook her head and picked up her hand. "Take all the time you need, Juice"

Juice was stunned by the sound of his name coming out of her mouth that it took a second before he slowly smiled and said. "I'll see you next Wednesday"


	4. All We Are

He didn't know what it was about this girl but Wednesday night couldn't come soon enough. Juice knew that if he asked Jax to have some time off, he would explode into pieces. So he asked Gemma, she readily agreed as if she knew her advice would sink into him eventually. He opened the door to a 50's-like diner, everyone loved it here in Charming and thought it set a nice mood. No matter how many times he would come in, Juice would find it packed. In this case, he wasn't looking for a seat, he was looking for a girl.

Juice took off his shades and scanned the room, a 40 year old holding a tray up and chewing her gum like a cow walked by him, not even bothering to hide her checking him out.

_'Move it right along' _Juice thought as he backed up a little as she passed by, smiling and nodding to her as if to be kind. _'You're not the one I want'_

"Can we have a number 8, Justin?" he heard a familiar voice in the crowd, he looked behind the counter and saw Mathilde in a 50's soda pop outfit with her hair tied in a low ponytail. Also, he noticed at least three pink wristbands on each arm.

"You got it" a 'Justin' said from the back.

Juice hopped onto a stool just before she passed him. "I didn't know you worked here" he quoted her, making Matty stop in her tracks and stared at him wide-eyed.

"Juice, how, how did you know I worked here?" Matty asked.

_'Hacked into your account' _Juice shrugged. "Lucky guess"

"Juice..." she said, leaning onto the counter.

"What, I always eat here, Matty" Juice said to her with a big smile on his face.

She blinked. "You called me, Matty" she said, almost in a daze.

"You said to call you Matty, just like you can call me Juice" he said to her, _'Ah, so she does like me'_

"Sorry" she blushed a little as she played with a set of straws. "Not a lot of people call me that"

"But, you said people did. Were you lying?" Juice raised an eyebrow. "Matty, I could stop calling you by your nickname. That's only if you want me to, Mathilde"

She gave a little smile and looked to the ground, Juice finally got it. "Mathilde, it's an old name. People used to tease you about it. So they forgot, and just bullied you... well- I'm not like that"

She looked up to him with her big blue doe eyes. "I know, Juice. I- It was my grandmother's name" she took a moment to think and Juice understood, it showed that her grandmother died 5 months ago on her account. "Well... As much as I loved my grams I really hated inheriting her name"

"But your name also has a powerful meaning behind it" Juice let out.

"Really, like what, diner-hopper?" she joked.

Juice shook his head, serious. "No, Mathilde actually means 'mighty in battle', it suits you"

Mathilde dropped her eyes to the ground, but Juice noticed that she was looking at the wristbands. "I would say that my name has the opposite meaning to me"

"Why?" Juice asked then whispered. "Because of where you go now on Wednesday nights, that doesn't mean anything. You can't think that, it was... just a speed bump"

"Are you saying that to you or me, Juice?" Matty questioned, catching his slip up.

"I'm saying it to both of us" Juice answered, catching Matty by surprise.

There was a couple of silence between them before, finally, Matty snapped out of her daze. "Hey, what does Juan mean?"

Juice rolled his eyes. "God is gracious. Like almost every Spanish name"

"What's so wrong about that?" Matty asked.

"Everyone's name is linked to religion meaning in a Latino family" Juice told her.

"So" Matty said. "You changed it to Juice, because that was better, right?"

"No, because people teased me into that nickname, I spilled juice all over my pants at recess" Juice opened up.

"Why would you do that? Juice, they made fun of you" Matty said to him. "I mean, I wouldn't keep that nickname if they did that to me. It's a cool name, but. I would've not stuck to that name"

Juice shrugged. "I wanted to show them that I wasn't afraid"

"Afraid of what, I don't get it" Matty slightly glared at him, confused. "You mean, you kept that name to show that it didn't bother you? You wanted to show that it didn't get to you. Did it work?"

"I'm using it right now, aren't I?" Juice smiled to her.

"Right?" Matty did a little giggle and glanced down at the counter again. "Sorry, I forgot. It's just, wow- I never knew anyone who would keep a nickname because of being bullied"

"I never knew someone as beautiful as you would be where we go on Wednesday nights. So I guess we both got our numbers" Juice said to her, looking her straight in the eye. Matty blushed again and looked away.

"I should get back to work" she mumbled.

"Speaking of numbers. Do you have a cellphone number that I can get by any chance?" Juice asked, not wanting her to leave.

"It's the 21st century"

"Meaning yes?"

"Yes. That means yes" Matty smiled to him.

"Can I have it?" Juice asked.

"Why?" Matty asked slowly. "Gimme a reason. For drunk dialing?"

"The counselor said to meet up with people inside the group once a month" Juice whispered.

"So. You want to pair up with me?" Matty laughed. "Really? Why?"

"Also I wanted to see what you were doing on Friday night"

"Friday?"

"Some biker clubs are going to be at the garage, Matty" Juice said to her.

"You wanted to see if I could tag along, right?" Matty asked slowly.

Juice shrugged. "Depends. Can you come? Or am I only going to see you on Wednesdays"

Matty thought about it; Wendy always said that the bikers were dangerous but their parties were fun. She described them as being a frat party but with people in leather vests. Mathilde always was curious onto knowing how much fun she was missing out on. Maybe this was her chance on finding out.

"Oh, Juice. I was going to plan on sitting home and watching t.v, crying over soap operas, and eating a bucket full of ice-cream" Matty joked. "While you're out drinking, smoking, and dancing, but! I guess, since we're just barely getting to know each other, it would be fun. Just let me find something to wear that day and I'm all set"

"Great, Matty, great, see you on Friday, I'll come by your house to pick you up. 8:30.. see you then!" Juice got up and went to the door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Matty asked, making Juice stop and turn at the door. "You need my number. So we can keep in touch?"

Juice nodded and went back to the counter, he already had her number, thanks to his incredible skills in hacking. They exchanged numbers and said their good-byes before Juice left the diner. He put his shades on and took out his phone, he found Matty's number and sent her a text. He watched as she helped someone with an order then took out her phone, he didn't know if it was the glare of the sunlight or his imagination but he thought he saw her smiling at the text message before he started up his motorcycle and rode off towards the garage.


	5. Still Going

Juice quickly parked the truck into the drive, last week he was trying to go the speed limit or possibly even slower to get to the church. But this time, he floored it until he reached the parking lot and not just because the SAMCRO group had a meeting that night but because he's been dying to see that little blonde again. He only felt slightly weird out that he met her at the suicide therapy and still didn't know what was her cause of doing it, even though it was pretty obvious that she did cut her wrists for something. It still stumped Juice as to why she would do such a thing, she seemed way to down to earth to do it, not like those silent types and her hospital records didn't share any details about her visit which happened to be the week before their first meeting, it only said cut wrists and some old bruises were recognizable.

"Hey, you" Matty said as he sat down near her, only an empty seat to separate them.

"I thought I was going to be late" Juice said, nearly breathless.

"Well, you still had five more minutes to spare" Matty said, glancing at the clock.

"I was about to come, but then my bike stalled" Juice explained, he remembered the look on Jax's and Chibs' face when he couldn't start his bike, they each thought that he toyed with his motorcycle to not go anymore. At work, Juice still keeps to himself but he actually made it a point to get to the garage on normal time. He hadn't told them about meeting Mathilde there yet.

"Luckily you work at a garage" Matty smiled to the Puerto Rican with the tribal tattoos. "What happened to it? Just explain in a basic language. I'm not to good with the whole engineer talk thing. Sorry! But most girls don't understand that type of talk"

"Matty"

"What?"

Juice smiled and shook his head. "The battery died and we just ran out of the type of batteries that ran my car, Matty"

"Juice... that sucks for you" Matty shrugged, pretending to be innocent. "I- I guess you can't take me to the party on Friday"

"Wait a minute, Matty" Juice put his finger up. "I got here tonight. Which means to me, I'm still picking you up"

"Juice" Matty looked to him, she didn't want to have him feel obligated to show her around his side of town, even though it would be thrilling for her.

"Your still going, Matty" Juice whispered before straightening himself so he could face the stage as their counselor made himself visible.

Matty smiled and shook her head but still, she remembered texting her cousin asking about what it was like at the parties and how would she fit in. It was only a response that didn't give her any encouragement at all: _The sluts there will eat you alive._


	6. Fitting In

Juice pulled up to the party and immediately Matty felt intimidated. The bikers were already howling with laughter, drunk off of their minds, and the women looked like they were selling bathing suits instead of being covered in clothing. If Matty were by herself, she would've just did a u-turn and speed right back home. But Juice put it to park without a second glance over to the crowd and gave Matty a smile like as if they were just outside of church.

As they both walked up over to the crowd, a man looked up and smiled as Juice came over. "It's about time you got here, Juice!" Juice and the man hugged, he looked over to Matty and nodded to her. "Who's this?"

"Hey, Theo! This is a friend of mine, Matty" Juice introduced as he put his arm around Matty's shoulder.

"You don't hold your friends like that, brother"

Juice smiled sheepishly as he dropped his arm. "Hey, brother. Let's not make this about us"

Before the guy could say anything else three people surrounded them, making the first guy disappear. One was a blue-eyed blonde man with a boy cut, but despite the beard he still looked pretty young enough to be Juice's age, maybe one or two years older, it took Matty a while to realize that this was Jax. The man beside him had grayish-brown hair with a slight beard but the thing that caught Matty's eye the most was his facial scars that covered the corner of his lips to almost reaching his ears. The only woman with them looked middle-aged with brown hair and streaks, Matty noticed that this woman was eyeing her over and over again but Matty already figured that it was Gemma.

"Hey, didn't think you would make it, bro" Jax hugged Juice as Matty looked around at the party.

"I had to pick Matty up" Juice replied.

"Wait? Matty, is that you?" Matty turned and looked at him in the eyes, he gawked. "You've changed. I haven't seen you since...?"

"Since you married my cousin?" Matty finished for him, she smiled. "Nice to see you again"

"I'm Filip but you can call me Chibs" the man with the facial scars reached out his hand and shook hers, she immediately was hooked with his Scottish accent. "So, how did you two meet? Juice never mentioned you"

"Enough of that, how's your cousin?" Gemma waved the Scottish man off.

"She's been a completely different person now, Gemma" Matty replied.

"Well, last time I saw her she looked pretty weak" Gemma said in a low voice as if trying to get into her head. "I remember, she took that shot of drug in the hospital"

"Oh right the one that you snuck in the hospital to give to her" Matty snapped back.

"Mom" Jax placed his hand on Gemma's shoulder.

"Where's Monique?" Juice changed the subject.

"Oh, she's at home" Chibs waved off. "Benji was in a fuss today. She forced me to come here but I'll retire very soon"

"What, no, you just got here" Gemma turned to Chibs, forgetting about Matty. "I'll go to her"

"It's alright" Chibs objected.

"Monique is Chibs' Old Lady. They have a kid together. I wish she was here so that you guys could meet" Juice informed Matty.

"Ah" Chibs smiled. "Come by the garage on Monday"

"I'll try" Matty said to him.

A bell clanked in the distance followed by a cheer of guys. "Happy versus Tig!" someone yelled out as two men on each corner lost their shirts and were taking off rings. "Let's get this shit started!" a bell clanked again and then the two went head to head, throwing punches to each other.

"Looks like their at it again" Jax sighed.

"Figures. Those two never let that shit die" Juice said as the curly-haired man cornered the other.

"Yeah" Gemma shook her head. "Boys will be boys. Why don't you guys get something to drink"

"Juicey and I will get the drinks" Chibs said as he slammed his hand down onto the Puerto Rican's shoulder.

Juice turned to Matty. "I'll be right back, beer?"

"Oh yeah- that's fine with me" Matty nodded as the two made their way to the bar.

"Don't worry. She'll be fine" Gemma said as they disappeared into the crowd.

There was only a couple of seconds of awkward silence before she noticed that she heard a distant rumbling that caught Gemma's and Jax's gaze. Matty turned around and noticed a lone rider at the entryway, he had grey hair from as far as Matty could tell. But something about him made her feel that he wasn't welcomed. Jax and Gemma pushed past Matty and snaked their way through the crowd to rush over to the man without even telling her where they were going.

"Wow" she heard a female voice and turned to face three women around her age who were beautiful but yet looked fake also. "Juice is losing his sense of style in women"

"What do you mean?" Matty questioned.

"Really? Why do you think he picked you instead of us" The girl in the middle raised out her hands to the two people next to her.

Matty shrugged, now was her time to prove she belonged. "I don't know, maybe because he's tired of his apartment smelling like dirty vagina's all day"

She turned around to leave but then the woman grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back. "Excuse me?"

"Did I struck a chord? Looks like I'm right, aren't I?" Matty yanked her arm away from the woman.

"It doesn't matter" she said with a sly grin.

"Good- then this conversation is over. Thank God" Matty said to the skank and was about to move to find Juice but then that woman opened her mouth.

"You'll never fit in" she shook her head.

"Who said I wanted to fit in with you, he invited me here" Matty challenged the woman.

The woman laughed and flipped back her perfect hair before she leaned in. "That's how we all started, the Sons invited us here. Then after they slept with us they find new women to-"

"No, you're lying, your trying to get under my skin. Just knock it off" Matty said to the woman but she knew it was too late, the prostitute already snaked into her head. "You're jealous. Otherwise you wouldn't be in my face. So do me a favor, and fuck off"

"Listen, girlie. No matter how you try you will never fit in" she said slowly.

Matty felt a pit in her stomach as she backed away then left to go home. She didn't want to be around her and didn't think she deserved to be treated that way. She figured that she'll text Juice right when she got home and just tell him she'll only see that man on Wednesday nights. Matty glanced to the side and then stopped. There was a microphone set up, he throat caught in her voice as only one song came to mind that would fit in this dirty town right now. The song was made as a joke but now it sounded like hell was reaching out and giving her a chance on the dark side. Matty raced through the crowd as she fished out the CD she was looking for, thanking herself that she was too lazy to take the CD out of her purse all those times she carried it around town.

"Can I help you, miss?" a big fat guy asked as he set up speakers. "The bars that way. And the restrooms over there"

"Play track 8 for me" she handed him the CD.

The guy took it then examined the CD. "Sure" he said. "Just give me a sec. I'll set it up. Wait for me to give you a thumbs up"

Matty turned around and sighed, she never thought that she would be singing this song but she remembered her cousins word of advice. _Do what you can to survive, just as long as you are comfortable with it._

She turned and noticed the guy gave her a thumbs up so she hopped onto the stage, a couple of people looked at her but others didn't even notice.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Jax asked Juice as Juice and Chibs went back to the spot where they were at before.

"Who?" Juice asked as he tried looking for Matty in the crowd.

"Mathilde" Juice looked to Jax, puzzled. Jax pointed up to the stage and that's where his Blondie went, onto the stage.

"What is she doing?" Juice asked slowly.

Matty turned and gave the man a thumbs up, the fat man then played the song, the bass getting everyone's attention as they turned to the stage. **(Song is called 'Change Your Mind' by Maria Kanellis) play it while she's singing to get the feel of the song!**

_I've got my legs wrapped around you  
You have my heart in your hand  
I'm lying here, begging for mercy  
I want you to be my man, be my man _

Jax couldn't help but have his mouth nearly drop to the floor. He remembered Mathilde being the cautious and conservative one and Wendy being the wild and quirky one. Guess things changed after all.

_Change your mind between my thighs  
Maybe down there you'll realize  
Gasping for air, then you will care about me, about me  
Change your mind, I know you won't resist  
You've never felt anything like this  
Change your mind between my thighs, change your mind _

The crowd whooped and started dancing to the beat as Matty gripped onto her hair and raise the microphone. Juice stood, starstruck as he watched this mysterious girl sing such a fiery song that it almost was hard for him to contain himself or his urge to go up there and just tear her clothes off right in front of everyone.

_Yeah, it's too late, I've lost all control  
Can't you see it in my eyes, you've got such a hold  
And I'm not letting go and I won't be denied, be denied _

Chibs laughed and slapped onto the boy's shoulder and leaned into Juice's ear. "The boys are loving her, brother!"

_Change your mind between my thighs  
Maybe down there you'll realize  
Gasping for air, then you will care about me, about me  
Change your mind, I know you won't resist  
You've never felt anything like this  
Change your mind between my thighs, change your mind _

Gemma watched with her hands on her hips. She didn't like this girl because of who she was related to but God damn she loved the song so much that she wanted to move. She then felt an arm wrap around her waist and heard a whisper in her ear. "Lighten up, Gem" Gemma turned and watched as Tig disappeared into the crowd. _'Yeah' _she thought as she turned back to the singer who was swishing her hips to the beat. _'Maybe for a little'_

_Lick my lips, find peace between my hips  
Touch my soul, lose control, lose control, lose control... _

"Yeah!" Juice yelled out and raised his hands over his head and applauded her. Matty found him in the crowd and pointed in his direction. The prostitute stood their with her arms crossed, glaring, before she turned on her heels and pushed her way out of the crowd.

_Change your mind between my thighs  
Maybe down there you'll realize  
Change your mind between my thighs, change your mind  
Change your mind, I know you won't resist  
You've never felt anything like this  
Change your mind between my thighs, change your mind _

The song died down but the Sons of Anarchy were in an uproar; applauding, cheering, and raising their glasses to her. She laughed as they yelled out 'Encore! Encore! Encore!' she turned to the guy who was waiting around for a decision, she then nodded and signaled for a track that he could play. The music started up again making the crowd cheer, Matty turned and looked to Juice and shrugged at him. He smiled and waved her off and watched as she sang to another song, his desire growing for her more and more.

**A/N:  
**I chose this song because it was kind of the only dirty song I knew that sounded so seductively and the only one that I could imagine Mathilde singing in a situation like this, I hope you liked the chapter and thank you for all of the great reviews, I definately read them and it makes me inspired to continue to write this story! Thanks guys!


	7. By Your Side

"Where did you learn how to sing like that!" Juice yelled out as Matty laughed on their way back to Matty's house. "When did you even thought about **writing **a song like that!"

"Why? Did it turn you on?"

"Maybe" Juice turned onto a street. "Don't change the subject"

"Wait!"

Juice hit the brakes making them jerk forward a little. "What's wrong?"

Matty looked down the road to her cousins house, it was dark, save for the lone porch light still lit up. She knew that Wendy was asleep and even though it was Saturday, her cousin had to get up really early to go to a meeting. Matty looked to the clock, Wendy would have four more hours of sleep if she came in right now.

"Let's go to your place"

"What?" Juice couldn't believe what he was hearing, '_Either I just heard that' _he thought '_Or my balls are muffling up my ears' _"You're house is just up there. I could, you know drive over there"

"I don't want to wake up my cousin" Matty explained. "I'll explain to her tomorrow, when she comes back from work"

"Okay" Juice turned the truck around and started to head back to his home, his heart pounding in his chest as he drove to the apartment buildings. Did nearly dying all of a sudden made him a virgin again? He's never felt like this before, not even with his ex-girlfriends. Juice looked over to Matty, typing a text message to her cousin. What was it about this one that made her so different?

"Thanks... I just don't want to wake her" Matty whispered as they climbed the stairs to the top floor.

"No worries" Juice replied back as he got to his door. "It's very nice of you"

"She kind of took me under her wing... after" Matty tugged at her sleeves.

"Here's my home" Juice said as he opened the door to his apartment. There was a small hallway and a small kitchen on the left, when she walked further she ended up at the living room where two leather couches slanted to face the TV in the corner next to the sliding door to a balcony outside. She noticed that the furniture was mostly black. To the right was another small hallway where a bathroom was on the right and she was guessing his bedroom was on the left. "Sorry. If it's messy, I wasn't expecting anyone"

"It's not" Matty turned around before Juice could go into the kitchen and try to straighten things up.

"Are you sure?" Juice asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I like it" Matty smiled and nodded to him.

"Okay. Uh..." Juice waved over to his room. "I'll go get you something to wear. Any suggestions? Pants or something"

"Long sleeved shirt" Matty asked as she followed him into his room. There was a queen-sized bed with black sheets, drawers on two sides of the walls, except for the wall where a nightstand was next to the bed and a desk right by it with a computer. She noticed a nice skull decoration on the nightstand. "I really like your apartment. It's really nice"

"You're just saying that" Juice said in a tone that said he knew she lying.

"I'm serious, Juice" she said to him as he took out a long sleeve shirt and started to look around for something she could wear as bottoms. "Oh, it's kind of hot. So, I don't mind in boxers as long as their clean"

"Matty..." Juice eyed her. "You think I would give you dirty boxers? What kind of host would I be?"

"I don't know. It might happen" Matty teased as he looked in a different place. "Considering, the girls at the party. I don't know if they've been here, those hoes. And you throwing your host skills out of the window, Juice"

Juice straightened up and looked at the blonde girl. "What makes you think I bring them here?"

"A couple of them were insulting me while you were getting our drinks" Matty informed. "That's what made me go up to the stage and sing"

"Oh, Matty" Juice looked to the ceiling and sighed. "Listen, don't listen to them, trust me. They're from this porno place near the garage. They just like to flaunt around. They always insult girls that we bring over there. I should've warned you. I was only thinking about having a good time with you instead of them. I thought that Jax and Gemma would take care of you"

Matty smiled. "It's okay"

"I'm sorry" Juice apologized.

"Don't" Matty shook her head. "I showed them that I belonged"

Juice smiled to her, then handed her the clothes. "The bathroom is straight across"

Matty left and changed, by the time she came back she noticed that Juice had taken off the extra pillows and spread the blanket out for her to get in. She smiled a thank you to him as she laid down on the bed and moved to the wall. Juice straightened up and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait? Where are you going? Aren't you going to sleep here?" Matty asked without even realizing her mouth was even moving. "I mean, I didn't mean to shoo you away, it's your apartment, I should be sleeping on the couch, not you"

"You want me to sleep there with you?" Juice asked and Matty nodded. "Are you sure, I can sleep on the couch?"

Matty gave him a look. "We're all adults here, just sleep in the bed"

"Okay. But I like to sleep in my boxers" Juice confessed. "Is that okay with you?"

"It could've been worse" Matty said as she laid her head down on the pillow as Juice kicked off his shoes.

"What's the worst sleep wear?" Juice asked as he took off his shirt, Matty couldn't help but notice his visible six-pack. "I don't want to know"

Juice turned off the light and slipped into the bed. Matty liked the feel the the mattress slightly weighing down from his body weight, the way that her body knew he was mere inches from her, and how he sighed after a couple of seconds of not moving.

"Good night" she yawned.

"Good night, Matty" Juice responded in the darkness. "Thanks for coming tonight, it really meant a lot to me. I never knew I could be happy again. I think it was because of you"

He waited for a response, when he didn't get any he turned and noticed that Matty fell asleep. Juice smiled, maybe he shouldn't have given her a lot to drink after she just finished the cup she was working on. Her deep breathing already sounded soothing to him, Juice swallowed then slightly licked his lips as he leaned over and gently kissed her cheek before lying back onto his own pillow and closing his eyes.


	8. Fate?

Matty opened the door quietly to the house, she slowly turned and closed the door as she heard the truck speed off down the road. The smell of food cooking gave Matty hope that her cousin wouldn't see her come in, seeing that the stove was not facing the entrance of the kitchen. Matty quickly walked down the hall until-

"Well, look who decided to come home!" _'Crap!' _Matty thought as she turned and looked to her cousin already seated and waiting at the kitchen table. "I sound just like my mother"

"I guess it's because you are a mother, right?" Matty said to her, trying to make a joke.

"But not to you" Wendy shook her head.

"Right! Which is great!" Matty edged over to the stairs. "Cause I have to change"

"What did you do all day?" Wendy questioned.

"Nothing, Wendy!" Matty rolled her eyes.

"You just came in at 5, Matty" Wendy pointed to the clock.

"We woke up around 1:30, okay" Matty told her, remembering how when she woke up, her arm was across Juice's stomach. She wished that she stayed like that a little while longer but her stirring made him wake up so she reluctantly had to move her arm before he realized what was going on.

"You slept with him?" Wendy's mouth dropped open.

"No!" Matty spat out as Wendy got up and moved to the stove.

"You just slept over at his house. Did he try anything?" Wendy asked.

"You sound worse than your mother" Matty said as she plopped down onto a chair. She did remember vaguely about him talking about how happy he was around her and even thought she felt him kiss her cheek. But knowing her imagination, it was only wishful thinking.

"What!" Wendy yelled out. "I want to know what happened!"

Wendy turned and walked back over to the table as Matty sighed. "You were right. The sluts came after me"

"I knew I should've gone with you"

"No, I took care of it"

"How? You're not the fighting type" Wendy eyed her cousin suspiciously.

"I didn't fight" Matty smiled to her. "You remember that song? Change your mind?"

Wendy nodded absentmindedly but then she stopped and looked to her cousin, Matty had a sly smile on her lips, making Wendy's mouth pop open. "You didn't!"

"I did. And you know what? They loved me" Matty leaned back on her chair, remembering staying up on the stage for well over a half hour before finally she was saved by Juice. "I'm pretty sure the whores aren't going to mess with me now. It was amazing, you should've seen it, it was just! I don't even kn- The parties are just so fun"

"I'm glad you had fun" Wendy nodded. "I wish I was there to watch you sing. I don't think Jax would've wanted me there. He barely wanted to look at me when I asked to see our son. He still thi-"

"Maybe I can help" Matty suggested.

"No" Wendy shook her head.

"He'll listen to Juice" Matty went on.

"You enjoy the time you have with Juice and leave my drama out of it" Wendy got up and turned off the stove.

"But! He can help, we can help. He told me that Jax isn't the same. Maybe he still misses you" Matty implied as she got up to set the table. "I'm not just saying that. Juice, he told me, and I believe him"

Wendy watched as Matty had an invisible smile on her lips, without even realizing it. "You really like this guy, don't you?"

Matty looked up and her smile went brighter. "I guess so. But I don't think it's the right time. I mean, we barely know each other. And we met on lesser circumstances. What if, he just doesn't think of me as, I don't know maybe how I think of him?" Matty hadn't told her cousin that she met Juice at the Suicide Group Therapy, she didn't like telling her cousin about different people. For all Wendy knew, she was in a one-on-one session.

"We don't know anyone until we get to know them, right?" Wendy asked.

"What are you getting at, Wendy?" Matty questioned.

"I'm saying-" Wendy leaned on the counter. "That maybe it's fate, my dear"

"Really?" Matty said sarcastically as they both sat down.

"Yes! You said you bumped into each other three times before getting each others number" Wendy pointed out.

"Okay" Matty said slowly.

"You fit in with the bikers. You just fit!" Wendy looked like she was about to reach for a crow bar and hit her little cousin over the head with it.

"What about my world?" Matty asked.

"The one back in your hometown?" Wendy asked, Matty swallowed as she remembered dreading the times when her ex had a bad day at work which was most likely everyday and would take out his frustrations on her.

"I don't know, I'm just scared that I have to tell him, you know. Not a lot of people would get that your ex tried to kill you. And that your parents don't even bother to help" Matty stared at her upside down reflection in the spoon.

"You're right, but tell me that he didn't come along when you needed someone the most, someone that isn't a family member" Wendy spoke up.

Matty thought for a minute. "You know what?" she smiled. "You're right"


	9. Standing Up

Juice wandered around the clubhouse the next Monday morning, something was going on with him that he never realized before. Ever since he went to the group therapy Juice has never had a second thought about committing suicide again, not to mention he stopped his frequent visits with Lieutenant Roosevelt. Juice remembered how he was planning on having another try at taking his life but now all of a sudden the thoughts and feelings have stopped. Was it because of group therapy or because of Mathilde?

Juice was suddenly pushed roughly into a room. "Hey, what the hell?" he stumbled until he got his balance just as he heard the door close.

"Why was she here?" Jax asked as he stood over the Puerto Rican.

Juice looked around. "Who?"

"Mathilde, brother" Jax said impatiently. "I bet I know why, it's because of Wendy, isn't it, I knew it"

"Hey! I brought her here to have a good time, not because of your troubles" Juice suddenly got up and walked closer to Jax, standing up for Matty.

"You better back up, I mean it, Juice" Jax said in a dangerously calm voice.

Normally, Juice wouldn't have backed off but considering how he is the newly acquainted President. Juice took a big step back. "She was there as my friend" he said boldly.

"When did you meet her?" Jax questioned. "After I told you Wendy was here?"

"Ah, yes, everything has to be about you, right?" Juice smirked. "Yes, I met her after you mentioned Wendy, and no she never spoke about you since the first night we met"

"Stop, your pushing your luck. And where did you meet her?" Jax asked.

Juice sighed, he didn't like telling Jax where he met her but he knew that he had to tell the President something. "The Group Therapy. That's all I'm saying"

Jax looked surprised. "She's at the group therapy?"

"Yes, but I'm not telling you shit else, it's her business as to why she's there"

"Bro, that could be very dangerous" Jax said slowly.

"Because she's related to Wendy?" Juice challenged.

"Because she's recovering too" Jax snapped back.

"That's only for addicts. Suiciders need each other in order to cope" Juice thought for a minute. "The counselor said to avoid any kind of lifestyle that we were living that led up to our suicides. To learn to live new ones. You want to do the math?"

Jax glared. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You wanted me to go to therapy, it was either that or I'm out" Juice reminded him. "So now that I'm going I've got an ultimatum for you. Okay, Jax, you leave Matty out of this or else I'm walking"

"What, Juice you don't know what your saying" Jax looked at him, bewildered as to what he was saying.

"That's right, and you know what, you know you need me to hack into technology" Juice nodded, confident.

"Well, I can get someone else that's a hacker" Jax folded up his arms.

"You remember how hard it was to find me?" Juice questioned.

Jax bit the corner of his lip, it took the club nearly five years to track down a decent hacker. "Things changed. Okay, we don't need you, alright. I can find other hackers. I can take you out of this club, brother"

"And how long was I in the prospect section before I was patched in?" Juice asked, '_2 and a half years, to be exact' _Juice thought to himself.

Jax rolled his eyes, sighed, and dropped his stance. "Look, Juice. This is ridiculous"

"Then leave Matty out of it. She doesn't deserve this right now" Juice tried to reason with the President, but knew that Jax probably wasn't done venting.

"She's related to Wendy. Wendy waved a custody battle over my face, okay? Matty might be using you to get to me" Jax tried to clarify but Juice rolled his eyes and started to pace a little.

Juice stopped pacing. "I'm going to ask her to be my Old Lady"

"What, did you not hear what I said?"

"Yeah" Juice nodded. "And it's bullshit"

"I don't like this. It's not right" Jax shook his head. "I'm telling you. Something is going to go wrong"

"Then let me and Matty handle it" Juice cut in. "She's the only one that knows what I'm going through"

"I'm pretty sure you don't even know why she's in therapy" Jax tried to prove his point.

"And that's not your business" Juice told him.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Jax finally sighed and said. "Fine"

Juice nodded and turned to walk out of the door, his hand went to the doorknob but then he turned to the President. "You really need to work out your issues with Wendy before it screws my chances over with Matty. I mean seriously. Matty has told me that Wendy misses her son and I don't think that's the only person she misses"

"What? Hey wait!" but Juice already closed the door and continued to walk out of the clubhouse, a smile on his face. _'Next time I see her' _he thought. _'I'm gonna ask her out'_


	10. I Can't Break It To My heart

Matty walked up to the garage, her heart fluttering and not because her car was finally fixed. She just got off of her shift at the diner and decided to walk over to the garage to get her car. She shaded her eyes and looked into the garage but couldn't see a particular man sporting a short mohawk with lightning tattoos on either side of his head.

"You came for your car or one of my workers?" a male voice came from behind her.

She turned around and was faced with Jax, standing in a light brown mechanic work shirt. "Would it hurt if I said both?"

Jax smiled a little. "Juice is out for the afternoon. Sorry, Matty, but he had to run errands with some of the guys. We just got news this morning. I'll tell him you passed by"

"Thanks"

"No problem"

"Now that gives me time to talk to you"

Jax handing her the keys. "What?"

"You know what I'm going to bring up"

"I knew it"

"You didn't expect me to bring the 'baby matters' up with you?"

"I knew you were using Juice"

"What!"

"You were using him in order to get close enough to talk with me into the whole Abel situation" Jax explained.

Matty's mouth fell to the floor. "I could never do that to Juice even if someone had a knife to my throat"

Jax looked to her, surprised. "Ah, so you weren't using him. That's good"

"And this is why I wanted to talk to you about Abel. You automatically think that everyone is out to get you" Matty shifted her stance and folded her arms.

"I do not!" Jax yelled out defensively. "You don't know how much I had to deal with in order to protect my son"

"And you don't know how much of it was a struggle for my cousin to keep clean in order to see her son again" Matty snapped back. "I guess you both have something in common. I think it's best that you give her a chance with her son"

"Not possible" Jax shook his head. "I've tried so hard to protect him and I'm not going to let her come and go as she pleases"

"You've changed Jax and so has she" Matty said in a calm voice.

"I've changed to become a father, okay/"

"She's changed to become a mother"

"Could you stop doing that?" Jax asked, pissed off.

Matty shrugged. "Doing what?"

"You're mirroring your answers with mine" Jax explained.

"Maybe because you both did the similar changes for your son?"

"I can't trust her. Okay?"

"I can't trust you and here I am talking to you about Abel, right?" Matty cocked her head to the side.

Jax blew out air from his nostrils, it seems like lately he can't win a fight anymore. He somehow, envied his stepfather's way of manipulating people into fearing him. If only back then he took notes instead of argue with the man. "What? What do you want me to do?"

Matty smiled. "There's a carnival coming into town this weekend. I'm going with Wendy, and you're _**conveniently**_ going to be there with your son"

"I thought this was going to be settled with us three" Jax questioned. "Not with you in tow. What... are you going to breath down my neck the whole time?"

"No" Matty shook her head. "Juice is going to be there. And he's going to make sure you go, while saving me from the awkward family reunion"

"Wait, what, he never told me this?" Jax looked confused as he looked down the driveway, expecting to see Juice with Chibs and Opie in tow just in time for questioning him.

"That's because I just thought of this right now" Matty smiled as she gave herself credit.

"What makes you think he's going to come?" Jax asked, suspiciously.

"Because he mentioned the two of us going on Saturday night" Matty informed the blonde one.

"The two of you" Jax repeated while nodding. "So this is real"

"Well! Not yet but I plan to"

"You know. He went through a really tough time before you came along" Jax said to her, understanding how Juice could like this girl so much, she was bold, headstrong, with a sense of fun in her... just like Wendy.

"Jax, I don't need to know what he's been through" Matty stopped him.

"Really? I thought you would ask" Jax eyed her, wondering if this was some kind of game.

"If he wants to tell me then he knows I will listen" Matty smiled to Jax.

"Cool" Jax nodded. "So, uh, how did you end up there?"

"I'm not going to tell you without telling Juice first" Matty said to him.

"You haven't told him anything?" Jax asked.

"We've been enjoying the company of each other rather then dwelling on our pasts" Matty replied back as she tried to fight the urge of tugging at her sleeves.

"So when are you going to tell him?" Jax handed her the keys.

"Well, I guess when the time is right" Matty grabbed a hold of them.

"After you guys have a couple of more outings together?" Jax smiled to her.

"Ask again and I'll cut your balls off" Matty said in a dead serious tone.

Jax raised up his hands. "Fine"

Matty sighed. "Finally, I get air to breathe"

"Have a nice day" Jax took a sideways step so that she could walk right by him.

"Great! I'll text Juice our plans later" Matty said as she started to walk over to her car but then stopped and turned around. "Oh, Jax! Did you change your cellphone number by any chance?"

Jax shook his head. "No, why?"

"Because Wendy still has your number saved to her phone" Matty winked at the guy and put her shades back on and walked over to her car. Wendy might kill her for making this her business but she might end up thanking her also, they all would have to see how this plays out on Saturday night.


	11. Carnival Nights

Saturday night was perfect, the weather was warm with the smell of popcorn in the air. Everywhere you looked there were lights and the people of Charming scrambling around to the next ride or booth, you could hear kids screaming in delight, laughing, and the sounds of the carnival music mixing in with the ringing bells that someone won at a booth along with the rumbling thunder of a roller coaster.

"Wow! That was so fun, let's go again!" Matty beamed as she grabbed onto Juice's wrist and tugged at him to go back to the end of the line. "Come on!"

"You said we were going to play at a booth after this ride" Juice complained, even though he liked how the carnival turned this blonde into a little kid again. "Just one game. Then we'll go back to riding, okay?"

"Okay, I guess. I did promise" Matty playfully rolled her eyes and walked with him over to the games. "Let me warn you first! I don't do well with games"

"I'm not playing to compete with you" Juice looked down at her.

Matty eyed him suspiciously. "Then why are you playing?"

"I'm playing to win you something" Juice put an arm around her shoulders.

Matty smiled to herself and then slowly wrapped her own arms around his waist. "You don't have to win me something"

"You're not going to change my mind" Juice objected as he saw a classic throwing a ball at bottles game, he steered her over to the booth.

"I guess it's better then seeing how Jax and Wendy are doing" Matty smiled as she leaned on the counter as the man handed Juice three balls, she looked around and noticed that Jax and Wendy were actually smiling and laughing with Abel on the Ferris wheel. "Wow. Looks like the magic of the carnival does change lives"

"It's about time" Juice said as he watched the little family go around the wheel. "Now let's see if there's magic in store for me"

"You can do it, Juice" Matty whispered to him as he threw the ball, missing only by inches. "That was so close!"

"That was your fault!" Juice pointed to Matty as she mocked being offended then laughed at him. "I'll make a bet on this last one. If I hit the bottles then I get to kiss you"

"What?" Matty beamed up at him, her heart fluttering as her face turned red with blush. "Let's hope you make it"

"Here goes everything" Juice said as he readied himself, then looked over to Matty. "You ready?"

Juice threw with all his might but he threw too hard and sent it flying over the top bottle. "Damn it, really?" he let out an irritated sigh and looked over to Matty. "Sorry. I guess I don't get to kiss you after all, Matty"

"Oh, it's okay" Matty turned to him. "Cause I think in my eyes, you hit the bottles"

Juice smiled as he brushed his hand through her hair and cupped the side of her face as he bent down and kissed her. Matty closed her eyes as she felt his lips touch hers in a gentle touch, forming perfectly around her own lips. She brought her arms up, going behind his back and placing her hands on his shoulders as he wrapped his other arm around her waist.

A man watched for a couple of seconds before taking out his phone and speed dialing it, when another man picked up, he turned and started to walk out of the carnival. "Yeah, I found Mathilde" he answered. "She's in Charming"


	12. In Time

Shortly after the carnival, Matty had no use for her car anymore. It's because she had a man with a motorcycle. She used to love having her hair down in beach waves but now lately she's been putting it in a french braid so that her hair didn't get knotted up in the wind. She used to think that there will never be another guy in her life because she was scared of what the last one did to her... but that was before she met Juice.

Wendy and Jax had a great time at the carnival, Matty noticed that her cousin was happy that she got to see her son but also that Jax invited her to go to the movies with them on Friday night the following week.

Matty's threatening voice mails and text messages stopped all of a sudden right after the carnival, which gave her more of a sign to pursue with Juice. Gemma seemed to be holding back her tongue but not because of Jax, but because of Monique, Chibs' Old Lady. She met the brunette at the carnival and was surprised to see that she was a few years younger then Mathilde. It didn't bother Matty but rather inspired her because of all the turmoil that those two had to go through in order to be welcomed by their friends.

"I didn't know Bobby sang here" Matty said as she looked around the crowd and easily spotted Chibs and Monique sitting near the front row and Gemma leaning on the counter talking to Lyla ,Opie and Tig. "Who is he impersonating?"

"Well- he plays- he's a big fan of Elvis Presley, let's just put it that way" Juice said as he took her hand in his.

"I take it he does this a lot" Matty noticed as she saw how he was happy to be with her but still a little peeved of something else... she hoped it was Bobby.

"Is there anything I can get you guys?" a waitress asked in a kind voice.

"I'm fine" Matty smiled up to the waitress.

"Can we get two of your special sangria's, Jackie?" Juice asked, she nodded and went back to the bar, Juice glanced to his girlfriend and noticed she had her eyebrows raised.

"You know her?" Matty asked in more of a teasing voice then a threatening one.

"You see?" Juice smiled to her. "I've come here way too many times, Bobby drags us here by his bike. Normally I would be drowning myself with the strongest alcohol at the bar but I figured let's have you suffer too"

"Here's your drinks"

Juice took them from the waitress and handed one to his Lady. "Matty?" Matty took it with a sly smile. "You'll love it"

Matty took a sip of it and Juice was more than right about the drink. "You convinced me"

"I told you" Juice smiled, leaned in and kissed Matty on the lips. Her heart fluttered as she tried her best not to smile in the kiss, she never knew she did that until Juice pointed it out.

Matty smiled once they broke the kiss. "I'm glad you brought me here"

"I had to get you out of the house" Juice said as he felt the wavy hair that she undid from her french braid the minute she got off of his bike.

"Chibs ordered calamari for you guys" Jackie said as she put the bowl between them.

"Oh! He didn't have to. Really?" Juice said as if Chibs could hear them, Matty looked over and noticed Chibs and Monique smile at them. "Great, really- I think they've been spying on us. Nosy pests, I swear, they're going to use as blackmail one day. I know it"

"Your complaining over free food?" Matty asked.

Juice thought for a minute as he looked down at the delicious food. "You do have a point. What would I do without you, baby"

"Pay a bill, Juice?" Matty suggested.

"Matty, please" Juice smiled as he leaned back in his chair.

"Are you saying you used to flirt with the waitresses to get a free meal" Matty asked, amused.

_'I hacked into their system months ago' _Juice wanted to boast. "Like I said. I come here a lot, so anyone just lets us slide if they want their car finished"

Matty smiled and shook her head. "Is the garage the only car garage here?"

"It's a small town"

"Not that small"

"We have our secrets, in time, you will figure them out" Juice said, he wandered about that day. Would she leave in fear or stay and fight. "Don't worry, baby. I'll tell you"

"Now I'm really curious, Juice" Matty said, intrigued by the mystery, Wendy always said that they were a biker club but Matty even knew then that her cousin was hiding something.

"Don't worry. I'll tell you" Juice repeated. "After a few dates. Then I'll tell you, I promise. Just be patient"

"You make it sound like your some kind of super hero" Matty replied.

Juice had a shocked and then pained expression as he looked down to the table. "I'm no superhero"

Matty leaned her head to the side and gripped onto his hand. "Don't do that"

"What, I'm fine" Juice said as he tried to snap out of his mood, he even tried to persuade her with a quick peck on the cheek.

"I know what you feel- remember?" Matty looked down to her sleeves.

"We all have different reasons, mine is probably the worst one" Juice answered back.

Matty watched him as he took in a deep sigh and continued to stare into the lamp right next to them. "Listen, when you're ready just tell me what happened. When I'm ready I will do the same" Juice looked up to meet her gaze, she smiled. "Okay?"

Juice smiled just as the lights turned down, signaling the start of the show. Matty turned and looked to the stage as the owner made his way across, but Juice just continued to stare at her through the darkness. How did he ever get so lucky? Why after all the hell he's been through with growing up in rough neighborhoods, the Sons of Anarchy's dangerous missions, and his suicide attempt did he get blessed with this woman? Juice smiled and turned to the stage, life is definitely full of mysteries.


	13. Love Remains the Same

The crowd moved in one big mass as the people of all ages, surprisingly, moved to the exit. Juice was more than happy when Matty asked if he wanted to go to the movies with her, but didn't expect it to be the old cinema and a black-and-white movie. He didn't even expect to like it at all by the end of it.

"That's crazy! I always just thought of black-and-white films as being boring" Juice said once they got outside, he wrapped his arm around his woman's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist as they made their way over to the parking lot.

"I told you to never underestimate _Casablanca" _Matty smiled up at him.

Juice looked back down at her. "Baby, you never told me that you liked old films"

Matty went onto her tip toes and kissed the corner of his mouth. "I'm full of surprises, babe"

Juice's smile went bigger as he looked back up, they still had a long way to go before reaching the motorcycle parking spaces. "I hope your not just saying that to turn me on"

"Maybe I am?" Matty said with an eyebrow raised then went back onto her tip toes and whispered in his ear. "Maybe I'm not. Who knows?"

Juice sighed. "What am I going to do with you, you just- I can never figure you out"

"I hope that's a good thing" Matty said. "I don't want you to think I'm too in the dark"

Juice furrowed his eyebrows together. "What makes you think that I don't like you the way you are?"

"Well, someone in my past didn't really like me that way" Matty shuddered as if the warm night turned freezing as she shrank into the protection of her boyfriend's arm.

Juice stopped walking and turned to face her. "Did something happen? You can tell me anything"

Matty opened her mouth to explain but the words didn't come out like she hoped they would, she sighed. "I'm not ready right now, Juice"

She thought to see hurt in his eyes but all he did was smile in understanding. "It's okay, Matty. Let's go. It's late anyways. Wendy's probably shitting her pants at home. Even though I wish you could stay out a little while longer"

Matty laughed as Juice wrapped his arm around her shoulders again and kissed her temple. "She probably is. Even though she practically pushed me out the door to go out tonight with you. But still! Next time I should just sleep over at your apartment. That way we don't have to have the night end so suddenly! How does that sound?"

"I love that plan, let's do that next weekend" Juice agreed. "I'm pretty sure I heard Jax telling Opie that he was planning on taking Wendy and Abel to the Music in the Park that weekend"

"That's great!" Matty yelled out, mostly about Jax inviting her cousin to nearly everything on the weekends more then the couple's plan on escaping. Suddenly, she felt a hard jab of a shoulder hit her, making Matty nearly lose her balance. But she stopped and watched the man continue to walk down the street. "I know him" she said absentmindedly.

"That asshole didn't even apologize to you" Juice said as he came up to Matty. "Where do you know him from?"

"I don't know but he looks really familiar" Matty said slowly as the couple watched the man disappear into the darkness. She didn't get a good look at the man's face, which she wished she did or else she could know that if she knew him from Charming or back in her hometown. Matty just prayed that it wasn't from her home town or else things might just get a little too complicated in good ol' Charming... unfortunately.


	14. Traditions and Suspicions

The next night, Matty walked over to the 'clubhouse' as Juice called it. She always wandered what was inside there but never bothered to ask. Juice said that the club was doing a midnight ride tonight. She already felt late, taking in 30 good minutes on hogging up the bathroom at her work as she tried to present herself as some form of a biker chick, which in the end she came as she normally did now.

Mathilde opened the door to find red painted walls, black leather coaches, a couple of small tables next to a couple of pool tables, further back was a room which she could see had a long table and on the wall above it was a reaper holding up what looked like an 8 ball but had an A on it instead. As she walked in, she noticed pictures along the wall, some old, some very recent along with other decorative things along the wall like an electric wooden guitar next to a dart game. She stopped and took in the picture of a hand-held photo where Juice was holding the camera up with Chibs next to him, Juice was smiling while Chibs was looking up through his eyebrows and flipping the camera off. Matty smiled as she continued to walk down the hallway until it opened up to a crowded bar with the bikers all gathered together talking amongst each other.

"Matty!" she heard a familiar voice and noticed Juice come out of the crowd and made his way to her with a big smile on his face. "You made it!"

He grabbed onto her hands, bent down and kissed her soft lips, she smiled into the kiss and said. "I thought I was going to be late. I mean, I didn't-"

"No, you're just on time" Juice said as he turned toward the group.

"Really, I doubt- Wendy?" Matty nearly reeled over as she noticed her cousin cradling her son in her arms as she talked to Gemma, which by the looks of it, a decent conversation.

"Looks like she's Jax's girlfriend again" Juice whispered as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and nuzzled his nose into her hair.

"I don't even know if that's a good thing or a bad thing" Matty joked as she leaned her head back to give him a kiss.

Juice smiled and broke the kiss. "Let's go and say hi to everyone"

"Sure"

Juice took her hand into his. "Let's go"

Just as Juice was about to lead his girlfriend further into the clubhouse, Matty noticed a picture on the wall with Gemma sitting on top of a man's lap at the head of a table. "Whose that?"

"Clay Morrow" Juice said as he stared into the picture. "Gemma's second husband. Used to be a president of this club"

Matty looked to Juice. "Used to be?"

"Well, he kind of did bad things as the leader" Juice shrugged.

Matty knew that Juice was hiding something but didn't know what, when she looked back at the picture she remembered that night at the party a lone rider was at the entrance and it fit Clay's picture perfectly. She remembered how shocked Gemma looked and how angry Jax reacted to the man showing up. Matty wanted to ask more about this man as she already figured that he was dangerous, but then she remembered their promise into waiting until the other can trust and open up to the other about their past, maybe this was one of the things that Juice was going to open up about.

"Okay, so how did this annual thing come to start?" Matty changed the subject.

"It was an Easter tradition, everyone just rides around under the sky around the neighborhood and sometimes through the back roads" Juice explained.

"But Easter passed three months ago" Matty said slowly.

"We sometimes do this when we're bored too" Juice smiled to her like as if it was an embarrassment that she remembered that Easter passed. "We're just going to meet here and then we all just ride off in different directions"

"That sounds fun. What makes you guys want to do this right now, it sounds kind of random" Matty said as she raised her eyebrow.

_'Because Jax believes that Clay is still in the charter' _Juice thought as he remembered Jax marking down his suspicions on how the old President was still wandering around. "It was mostly Monique's idea. It was her favorite tradition while she was growing up. It kind of died down when she left for college" Juice filled her in as Monique raised her son, Benjamin up over her head and then started kissing him all over.

"We'll leave in 10 minutes" Jax announced in a loud voice.

"That sounds so sweet. What other traditions do you guys have?" Matty asked.

_'Sex with a porn star on Valentine's day, drinking game on St. Patrick's day, Costume party on Halloween, Dinner on Thanksgiving, and the traditional Christmas at the Queen's house' _Juice thought."It's mostly get togethers on nearly every holiday, most of us aren't really from Charming" Juice explained as everyone around them got up and put on their jackets as Chibs, Jax, Monique, and Wendy kissed their kids good-bye. "It's kind of cool. Jax's dad started this whole club, the traditions kind of took a life on their own themselves"

"Is the surveillance up-to-date?" Jax yelled out again.

"Yeah! Did it twenty minutes ago" Juice called over to Jax.

"I'm kind of curious. Which one is your favorite?" Matty asked.

Juice thought for a while. "I don't know. I guess I always loved them all. It kind of makes me think back to my family in Queens"

"Do you miss them?" Matty asked.

"At times, but not right now" Juice smiled to her.

"That was smooth" Matty smiled at him. "But I'm glad you didn't get homesick and go back to New York, or else I wouldn't have known you- probably not even go back to group therapy after the first visit- Even though it's really fun, but weird, I haven't thought back to that incident. Not since you came around. It just feels like a bad dream to me, even though I have evidence to prove it" Matty pulled her sleeves down. "I guess all of this was meant to happen. Even if that sounds corny. I don't know what would happen if you weren't there at the meeting, I just wanted to tell you that. I needed to get that off of my chest"

Juice wrapped his arms around her waist. "I feel the same way. And I'm glad you told me that. It means a lot to me, I remember telling you that when you slept over at my apartment, but the funny thing was, you fell asleep during my little heartfelt conversation. Just be glad I didn't fall asleep on this moment to get you back"

Matty giggled and wrapped her arms over his neck and planted a kiss on Juice's lips. _'So my imagination wasn't my imagination that night, he really did kiss my cheek that night' _she thought, happily as Jax announced to everyone that it was time to ride.


	15. Stalker

Matty put a spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth, Abel's kindergarten was having an ice-cream fundraiser and Jax thought it would be nice if the bikers had come along for support... and Wendy and Matty. It was slightly confusing for her, she saw how Jax and Wendy are always smiling and mildly flirting with each other but by now they both would've jumped onto each others boats and wouldn't have waited this long.

Matty slowly walked over to Monique saving her a seat, she glanced over to the table next to them and smiled at Juice who was talking with Tig. Matty sat down as people came into the ice-cream parlor. Monique looked up and gave them a flier. "Would you like to help the fundraiser?"

"Of course, this is why I came" a man with his little daughter smiled and took the flier as they waited in line.

"What about you?" Monique asked as a teenager came in with his buddies.

"Sure, what the hell" the guy shrugged as he took the flier.

Monique turned and smiled. "This isn't as bad as I thought it would be"

"You know, I think it's cause of that smile you flash at everyone" Matty teased as she took another big bite from her ice-cream.

"Hey" Monique said as she picked up her cup. "It works wonders, alright?"

Matty laughed. "Maybe because your the daughter of the Elvis of this town" Bobby got up from his seat, holding Monique's son as he started singing to the little boy, no doubt an Elvis song, Matty turned back to Monique. "Just a theory"

"Well, I like to think I go by Filip's Old Lady, not the Elvis-" Matty turned to Monique and scrunched her nose. "Your his what?"

"Oh... it mostly refers to wife or steady girlfriend... the boy's language always rubs off on me" Monique turned to Matty. "Sorry"

"Does Juice call me his Old Lady?" Matty blushed as she spun around her half melted ice-cream. "I never, I never heard of the term before. Do you know if he does?"

"Is this the flier for the fundraiser?" a kind woman asked as she came in through the door, making Monique not answer her question.

Matty looked up back out into the parking lot and then noticed a man in the distance, staring straight at her. "My God" Matty slowly stood up.

"Excuse me" a man said as he walked around Matty who absentmindedly walked into him.

"What's wrong?" Monique asked as she got up from her seat.

"It's that man. I saw him at the movie theater. Does it look like he's looking over here?" Matty asked, the man then turned around and walked away and towards the alley. "Um, Monique? I think he's following me. I didn't really put much thought into it until now. I mean look! He was just standing there. I'm not crazy, right?"

"You know what?" Monique said as she gently took Matty's shoulders into her hands. "You better run this by Jax. I heard something like this happening to his previous girlfriend. It's something that you don't want to happen to you"

"Yeah" Matty nodded. "Alright"


	16. Bruised

"Come on, everybody!" Tig yelled out from the crowd, holding a basketball, later that afternoon. "Let's get a pick-up game going. We look like fat bastards on the side of the road, come on! Juice, you're on my team"

Juice turned from having a conversation with Matty. "Why? You hated me on your team last time"

"Don't be a bitch" Tig waved him off as Happy took one last sip of his beer before taking off his shirt.

Juice turned back to Matty and shrugged. "I guess I gotta go play, baby"

"I'll keep her company, Juice" Wendy approached the couple with Jax's patch in one hand and Abel in the other.

"I'm fine, Juice-" Matty put her hand on his knee. "Go, play a game. It'll be fun for me to watch you. Go, Juice!"

"Fine" Juice said then kissed her jawbone before taking off his glasses, vest, and shirt before running to catch up with the others.

"Jax told me that you changed him" Wendy said as she took his place on the bench.

"You're lying" Matty rolled her eyes. "Stop it, Wendy"

"Jax wouldn't tell that to me just to amuse me. He says that you made him really happy again" Wendy informed as the guys started their game.

"Again? Why did he say again?" Matty asked, trying to not be too surprised. "He's never said anything to me about being sad. Well, I never asked. But it doesn't give me a right to. I just live in the moment with him"

"Doesn't give a right?" Wendy repeated. "You're his girlfriend"

Matty then remembered her conversation with Monique earlier in the afternoon, she turned back to her cousin. "Are you Jax's Old Lady? And if I'm in a relationship with Juice does that mean I'm his Old Lady too? If that's even the right term"

Wendy looked at her with surprise. "Where did you hear that term?"

"Monique, she said she was Filip's Old Lady. I just thought Juice would mention it to me if he wanted me to be one" Matty slowly sighed as she looked over to the Puerto Rican blocking one of his friends. "If I really did change him"

"Because it's you" Wendy said bluntly like as if that was supposed to make sense to her younger cousin.

"Really, what does that even mean?" Matty questioned. "Come on, you said it yourself. I would be the first-" Wendy ducked her head down and laughed. "Why are you laugh- It's not funny"

Wendy picked up her head and shook it. "You think way too deeply"

"Then make it simple for me" Matty replied.

"Okay, how about this" Wendy answered. "He thinks it's too early in the relationship to tell you this because he's scared you might run off. Does that sound like him?"

"Actually" Matty said slowly and turned and looked at the boys. "It does"

The basketball went through the hoop making some of the guys complain while the others cheered, Juice smiled his big grin and turned and looked over to the benches. Matty smiled and blew him a kiss, it was only a little thing she could do for such an impact that he gave on her life.


	17. The Hunt

The summer heat burned into Matty's light jacket, her sunglasses deflected the light and wind, while she sat behind Juice riding his motorcycle through the back roads of Charming. A few strands from her french braid wrenched free in order to feel the flight themselves as she tightened her hold around his waist, not because she was scared but because she loved the feeling of his body next to hers and the sun giving off his leather vest a nice smell. Juice smirked when he felt the change in the hold as he turned a wide corner.

"We should just road trip right now" Matty spoke up then kissed his cheek. "What do you say?"

Juice grinned. "Let's take it step by step"

"Why not! I'm getting used to riding on a bike, baby" Matty pleaded, she loved the feeling of the wind rushing past her, the motor in between her legs and not to mention the quiet time that she can get with Juice.

"You've only been riding on this bike for nearly an hour" Juice pointed out. "Think about driving for 8 hours straight, you'll get bored. You can't even sleep, so-"

"Who says I want to fall asleep on a motorcycle" Matty laughed.

Juice glanced into his rear view mirror then double checked again, a purple ghetto Oldsmobile was gaining on them. _'Oh shit!' _Juice thought to himself as he slightly sped up. _'Not now! Not with Matty on my back'_

Even with speeding up, the Oldsmobile sped up to nearly their speed. Matty recognized what was going on, but just as she turned around a black man pulled himself out of the window and raised a gun at them. Matty turned around to warn Juice but he grabbed onto her arms and dangerously swerved around on the road as bullets started to fly around them. Matty ducked her head down and stifled a scream, her pounding heart drowning out the wind rushing through her ears as tears stung her eyes.

_'Where is it? Where is it?' _Juice looked to the side of the roads frantically, all throughout the back roads were secret man made roads, made by the Sons of Anarchy bikes and way to small of a road for the One- Niners to chase them. Juice immediately drove his bike right into the shortcut right when he saw it. The couple bounced dangerously on the road as the car sped after them. Normally, Juice would be trying to comfort his girlfriend but right now he had to be quiet and focus on their getaway route.

Juice dodged a glance over his shoulder and noticed that the car was losing speed, thankfully. Mostly because of the close together hills and small road. Matty let out a choked scream, making Juice turn around, a tree was coming up right in the middle of the road, Juice dodged it, feeling the wind as the tree rushed by. **Bang! **Juice turned around to see smoke rising from the car that didn't see the tree coming.

The young man sighed as he got out of the dirt road and sped his way into town. The colorful shops swerved past them as everyone went on with their everyday lives, not knowing that Matty or Juice could've been killed 30 seconds ago. _'How did he know how to get rid of them?' _Matty thought. _'It seemed like he knew where to go in order to get away from them'_

Juice pulled up into the garage's driveway and went over to the bike lane. On a normal occasion, Matty would've leaped off as Juice fixed his bike. But this time, Matty practically fell off of the bike and frantically took off her helmet with shaking hands and tearing her sunglasses off of her face to show that she's been crying. Juice didn't even line his bike up, just turned it off and tried to comfort Matty.

"Are you okay? Talk to me"

"What the hell was that!"

"I can explain everything" Juice said to her as some of the workers, customers, and Sons of Anarchy looked over to the couple displaying a scene.

"Explain?" Matty yelled out. "Someone just tried to kill us!"

"Let's go inside" Juice said softly.

"We almost died, Juice!" Matty yelled back at him, swatting his hands away.

"We need to move inside" Juice tried again.

"We need to go to the police" Matty reasoned, her mouth running dry. "The people are probably still there"

"No, believe me that's a very bad idea"

"To go to the authorities?"

"They'll think we're in a gang, then I'll get arrested, the Charming police will only care about saying that this biker club is a gang when it's not"

"Gang?" Matty fumbled. "You're in a gang? You never told me. You knew those people? Why did they want to kill us?"

"I'm not in a gang" Juice said firmly. "And I know who the people belong to but not know them personally"

"I'm so confused!"

The club, Monique, and Gemma came rushing over, checking out the scene. Matty was still on the floor, trembling like a lost puppy, while Juice was crouched right by her feet trying to approach her.

"What the hell happened?" Tig asked.

"One- Niners tried to shoot us down" Juice informed the enforcer.

"Juice, you know them?" Matty yelled out.

"What- What, no I don't... believe me... I'll tell you everything you need to know" Juice said softly.

"Everything?" Matty sniffed. "But, did you do something? That made them want to kill us?"

"I didn't" Juice said, looking pointedly at Tig, the man shifted his stance as he remembered killing the One- Niners Queen a couple of months ago.

"The secret. I knew something was going on" Matty said as she thought about it. "Why didn't I think that was connected"

"Matty?" Juice asked.

"What?"

"You- You knew something was up?" Juice asked.

"Wendy didn't tell me anything and said that when you wanted to you would let me know" Matty blurted out.

"Well, now is the time" Juice edged to her and put a hand on her thigh. "Unfortunately. I didn't want to tell you like this, after someone just tried to shoot down my Old Lady. I wanted to tell you someplace quiet"

Matty shrugged. "I guess I got what I wanted"

Juice made a face. "What?"

"I'm your Old Lady"

_'Yeah' _Juice thought. _'Along with everything else'_


	18. Hacking up a Past

"God!" Juice sighed through his hands as he rubbed them around his face. "Where to begin? Run the plates? Check the names? Everything else, will fall into place"

Matty was finally asleep in one of the rooms at the clubhouse, Jax phoned Wendy to tell her everything and she said she would be there by the end of the day. Matty hadn't calmed down to a mellow version of herself, she was still pretty freaked out after Juice told her their involvement with gangs, the gun exchange, and how this was the secret he's been hiding from her. Who wouldn't have been shaken up if they nearly just got killed? It got to the point where Gemma made her swallow down Tylenol pm to finally give her some rest.

"How's it going, Juice?" Opie asked as he and Tig came over to the bar.

"We got some information, could help with your hacking, Juice" Tig said as he went around to the other side to get a drink. "Something that would be interesting for you to hear"

"You're guys' chase wasn't just for a message to the club. It was a target"

Juice looked over to Opie, he looked somewhat hurt on what he found out and the information was killing him. "Opie?"

"Juice, Matty was a target" Opie let out.

"A target?" Juice couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"A rich white man gave an order that he wanted her dead"

"You sure it was Matty" Juice asked. "Are you sure, you must've gotten her mistaken"

"Hitters don't mix up their jobs" Tig shook his head. "The man knew it was Matty he wanted to target"

"Uh, no, she, uh... she wouldn't be involved with those types of people" Juice stammered.

"I'm sor- we tried, uh... the One- Niners didn't ask anything about his background" Tig took a sip from his drink.

"Opie-" Juice turned to the older man.

"We didn't have much to go on" Opie shrugged. "He gave them a pricey check. She did something to piss him off"

Juice looked over to him. "Did you save it? Please- tell me you didn't rip it up and throw it in their faces. I can run it through the laptop. Pick up anything"

"It's right here" Opie fished through his front pocket and took out a crinkled up check. "Tig wanted to destroy it. I snatched it out of his hands at the last minute. Would she have told you about this? Seems kind of important"

"Oh, Opie, you're a God" Juice said as he grabbed the check and turned to his trusty laptop. "Uh, Peter Kane"

"Sound familiar?" Tig asked. "I don't know why I remember that name. Maybe he went to Caracara? Or went to our garage before"

"He was the youngest person to run for mayor in Timberville" Juice spoke up. "Says he came from a family of fortune, only child. Means big footsteps to follow"

"That old redneck town right by us?" Tig asked.

"Well, apparently, looks like they're just like us... wait, hold on... is that- Matty, it is, she was his girlfriend at sometime ago- recently- before she moved here. Then it says that Matty was rushed to the hospital one night"

"So!" Opie let out. "Rich guy runs for mayor, then one night his girlfriend has a trip to the hospital. Can anyone else guess what I'm thinking happened here?"

_'This has got to be the reason why she tried to commit suicide' _Juice thought. _'Why she wanted to start a new life'_

"Well, I'm guessing... he abused her" Juice let out. "That would- she would flinch. The first couple of times I wanted to get close to her"

"Juice..." Tig said. "Go talk to her"

"Good idea, Tig" Juice got up from his chair and started to walk over to the room that she was in.

"Good luck" Opie called out, he needed it.


	19. One Day

Juice sat at the edge of the chair, watching as Matty slept on the bed. He didn't want to wake her, but he deserved to know why Peter wanted to kill her, and if she didn't know about her ex-boyfriend hiring a hit then she deserved to know.

"Hey" Matty rubbed her eyes, groggily. "I'm sorry for freaking out so much. I feel like I over exaggerated, babe. It's just... I was so scared"

"It's okay" Juice cleared his throat. "It's understandable, I know. We need to talk"

Matty sat up. "What happened?"

"I want to tell you about my past" Juice said.

"Really?" Matty asked. "You trust me"

"You need to know"

"That's different" Matty said. "Your telling me because of what happened this afternoon"

"It's not about that" Juice started.

"I know your lying"

"I need you to know" Juice let out. "I feel like this afternoon scared you and you want to walk out but I want to tell you how I ended up at the therapy sessions. You need to know. I just, I want you-"

"Me first" Matty cut him off.

"Wait. Why?" Juice asked.

"Same reason why you wanted to tell me about your past" Matty looked down at her fingers.

Juice could tell she was nervous. "You don't have to"

"I'm ready" Matty confessed.

"Because I was about to talk about my past?" Juice questioned.

"I want to tell you" Matty said with a little bit of fire in her.

"Why?" Juice asked. "Can it wait until after I tell you?"

"No" Matty sat up straighter. "I thought I was in love... with a person my parents hooked me up with... he showered me with gifts and affection... in public"

"In public?" Juice looked to her, confused at what she meant by that.

"But, behind closed doors" Matty took in a sharp breath, she looked down to her long sleeves.

Juice reached forward and grabbed onto her hands. "What happened?"

"Well-" Matty blinked back her tears. "He was cruel. Blamed me for almost everything- he hit me almost everyday, I felt like he was trying to beat me to an inch of my life. Then one day. I had enough, so! When he was away for a conference meeting... I took a blade... then I-" Matty lifted up her sleeves ad exposed her two red scars on her wrists. "I didn't want to live anymore, so I took matters into my own hands. Then, I- I woke up, in the hospital. I was so terrified, he found me there. But... it was... Wendy was there... she got a call from the hospital. She said that my parents hadn't come, not even my boyfriend who found me, I moved to Charming, but as soon as he heard that I was released he kept on sending me threats. Saying he was going to find me and kill me for embarrassing him, that's it"

"He beat you" Juice tried to keep his voice calm and his hands from shaking.

"Yes" Matty looked back down to her scars that she revealed for him.

Juice gently moved his hands toward her scars, she jumped when she realized that he wanted to touch them. "I won't hurt you"

"I know, but I'm still scared" Matty confessed.

"So, trust me" Juice reached out and gently stroked her wrists.

"I wanted to let you know" Matty's voice broke.

"I know" Juice nodded.

"I just wanted it behind me" Matty sighed.

"You didn't have to. I just wanted you to tell me when you felt it was the right time" Juice gripped onto her hands.

"Thanks. But I felt like it was" Matty smiled to him. "I trust you"

"Well, I guess it's my turn" Juice said.

"Are you sure?" Matty gave him a look of concern.

"Yes, I want to tell you about my reason why I'm in therapy" Juice felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"As long as your ready" Matty looked him straight in the eye. "Cause, I'm still here. Even when you basically told me that you guys are outlaws. I'm not leaving, just because people fired shots at me, I survived the up close pain. I don't want to leave you because of that. You're the only one I felt close to"

"The top sheriff in this town has been blackmailing me into keeping them updated of what we do here" Juice let out.

"What?" Matty asked, she didn't know much about the rules in the Sons of Anarchy but she was sure that they would want him dead for keeping everything in pace with the cops.

"Eli Roosevelt-" Juice began. "I know who the sheriff is" Matty said boldly.

"He was going to use the information that I was half black" Juice went on.

"Why?" Matty asked.

"Because, there has never been a colored member in this club before" Juice filled in.

"And that's bad, you guys aren't racists. I've seen you with other races" Matty went on. "How can he use that as leverage? Why would you even agree to that? How does this have anything to do with therapy, anyways. He shouldn't have scared you that much"

"The club makes you either scrape off the ink or burn it while your conscious" Juice said in a low voice.

"God!" Matty let out and covered her mouth. "How did he-"

"It was first one thing then it just grew into this form of everything that I had to tell him" Juice looked scared, so scared that Matty wanted to hug him.

"He made you want to commit suicide?" Matty asked.

"In a way-"

"How so?"

"I killed one of my friends who found out"

"That's what triggered it?"

"I gave him what he wanted and he still arrested me"

"Why?"

"Because" Juice looked up to the ceiling and breathed loudly through his nostrils. "He lied. They always do. That's why I didn't want to go there. He would see I'm with you"

"He-" Matty tried really hard to swallow. "What would he have done with me?"

Juice looked up into her big blue eyes. "I don't know. That's what scared me the most. You're something that I don't want him to look into. To destroy this-"

"You were trying to protect me" Matty said slowly.

"Exactly, I know his ways. I didn't want him to pressure you into hanging yourself like he did to me" Juice blurted out.

"You... you tried to hang yourself?" Matty felt tears in her eyes.

"I wanted to get out" Juice explained.

"Yeah? I know" Matty smiled to him.

"I felt horrible that I could kill someone else but not myself. I wanted to try again but then I met you" Juice said to her. "And, ever since I met you I stopped contacting Roosevelt"

"Good! I'm proud of you" Matty squeezed his hands. "Juice?"

"Yeah?"

"Kiss me" Matty pleaded.

Juice got up from his chair and sat on the bed. "Okay, for old times sakes. Just for now"

Matty giggled. "Shut up"

He laughed as she grabbed onto the back of his neck and kissed his lips, feeling the light stubble of his mustache as his slightly rough lips collided with hers.


	20. Peter

"Are you okay!" was the only thing that Matty heard before being lifted up into the air and barely breathing as she guessed that her cousin was the one who had come into the clubhouse.

"Not right now" Matty groaned out.

"Sorry" Wendy put her down then turned her younger cousin around. "I was so worried about you. I wish I came as soon as I heard but my boss was being an ass!"

"Wendy, I'm fine. It was nothing" Matty shrugged like as if she was used to being shot at on a regular basis. "Really"

Wendy just gave her a look before slowly shaking her head. "Matty. Matty"

"Why are you repeating my name like that, Wendy?" Matty asked, suspicious.

"I went into deep hiding from Jax when I found out about what they do" Wendy pointed her thumb outside. "It was probably a week before I spoke to him again. It's okay to be scared, all right? It's normal. You don't have to put up this big bravado. Especially to me, okay? I've been there before. Let's get a drink"

Matty sighed as Wendy led her over to the bar, she turned to her older cousin. "Are we even allowed?"

"We got another car!" someone yelled out from the opened door to the clubhouse.

"How old do you think we are, 12?" Wendy joked. "Please, they'll understand. What's one drink going to do?"

"Well, I guess" Matty said as Wendy gave her a scotch glass. "I did almost die today. We are over 21. Yeah, why not-"

"That's my girl" Wendy winked at her as she raised her glass.

"Cheers" Matty clanked her glass with Wendy's. "Come on, I want to go see Juice. He left after I fell asleep again"

"You always have to find an excuse to not drink" Wendy rolled her eyes as the two cousins walked over to the entrance. "Party pooper. Come on, Matty"

"Wendy, I'm not a party pooper" Matty stated firmly as she stopped in her tracks from going outside.

"Prove it" Wendy challenged.

"Wait, how?" Matty questioned.

"Just stay at the bar and chat, Matty" Wendy shrugged like as if it was that simple.

"Fine, cousin" Matty turned around and headed back to the bar. "I'll show you that I can take a drink"

"I'd be dead before that can happen" Wendy joked as they resumed their places once again at the bar.

Juice's blood boiled over in anger, his face set to kill under his shades. The man that came in with his car was Peter Kane. The nerve of that bastard to come over and drive his expensive car up to this lot after trying to plot and kill Juice's girlfriend. He quickly walked over with increasing speed before anyone else could claim him as their responsibility.

"Hello" Peter nodded to Juice.

"You need to get the hell out of here" Juice said as he came up to the man's face.

Peter cocked his head to the side. "I beg your pardon?"

"Leave before I kill you" Juice said.

"Is that how you guys treat your customers?" Peter asked, as if he didn't get why Juice was still in his face.

"Yeah, the ones that try to hire and kill women... and that woman just so happened to be my girlfriend... you failed" Juice breathed out fire. "Now leave before I show you how to run a successful hit"

Peter's face fell into a look of hatred. "She's still alive? I was only doing her a favor... she did try to kill herself before"

"What's going on here?" Jax asked as he lightly pressed Juice away from the man.

"Poor customer service" Peter spoke up.

"He tried to kill Matty" Juice whispered as his hands barely started to tremble.

"She's already dead" Peter snapped back.

"Watch your fucking mouth" Jax spoke up. "You don't know her. She's a lot stronger than you think. And... she's got us- so I'm warning you, back off, or your going to get hurt"

"Why- Let's just get it over with now? After all he's done to her?" Juice glared at the rich guy in front of him. "He wants it- or else he wouldn't have come over here, right?"

"Funny" Peter smiled. "But I was just seeing why her cousin would come to a garage after my hit was made"

"What! You-" Jax breathed out. "You stalked her cousin! What kind of low-life are you, this isn't your precious Timberville where everything is given to you at the palm of your hand- this is Charming. And you don't fuck with women like that! You hear me? You're in our territory now"

"Looks like your territory is a piece of shit"

"Not as much as how you treat women" Juice snapped back.

"She deserved it" Peter taunted.

Matty and Wendy walked out of the clubhouse, laughing hysterically at their inside joke, Matty looked up and then the oxygen was sucked out of her as her blood ran dry. "No. Tell me that's not him" Matty grabbed onto Wendy's arm. "He's talking to Juice. Oh, God, what do I do, he found me. He knows that I'm alive, what's going to happen?"

"Stay here" Wendy said firmly.

"But what about Juice" Matty noticed that the conversation was only getting worse as the time just keeps on ticking away. "Look, Juice is going to attack him at any moment"

"Good, he deserves it after what he's done to you" Wendy replied. "Just let them handle this"

"I know him" Matty shrank behind her cousin. "He's cunning. Always thinking. He knows how to get under people's skin. He can get Juice to lose his cool"

"This is one of the roles of the Old Ladies" Wendy told her. "Let your man deal with the threatening drama"

"Not my drama" Matty said a little loud, she looked over and realized that none of the three men looked over, too heated in their argument to notice the two women. "It's too much. I was getting along fine and then he shows up. It's like going back into a nightmare"

"Let them deal with it" Wendy said again. "I know Jax"

"But, he- uh- why is he here?" Matty questioned.

"Probably figured out that you aren't dead" Wendy said without thinking.

"Really? You think so, what will happen? Is he going to get other guys to find me? Is that's what's going on, Wendy? I want him to leave. It's just, he-" Matty stammered.

"Who is he?" Gemma came up to them, making Matty jump and hide more behind her cousin.

"Peter" Matty barely made out.

"Her ex. An abusive boyfriend. The one that set up a hit on her to kill her this afternoon" Wendy informed. "Quite charming, huh?"

"A real catch" Gemma muttered, already analyzing him.

Jax turned around and made a loud whistle to the garage, two prospects came up to him, and then soon enough they each grabbed onto Peter's arm and started dragging him out of the garage. Peter struggled, but when he did, he looked directly over to the girls and then stopped when he noticed Matty. Matty whimpered, Wendy placed herself in front of her cousin, and Gemma reached into her purse feeling the nice cold handle of her gun. Peter just stared until Matty looked up, then he gave her a smile and winked at her, the look he always gave her as he stood over her after beating her to the floor.


	21. Protection

"What do you mean you're separating us?" Wendy nearly screamed into Jax's face as he ran around, stuffing her clothes and what not into duffel bags that he brought back from the clubhouse.

"It will blow him off. Wendy, you could be a potential target... why didn't you tell us that you kidnapped Matty?" Jax stopped and turned to his ex-wife.

Wendy glared at him. "I didn't steal her. I just took her before her parents and psychotic boyfriend came"

"Well... you definitely pissed him off" Jax fumed as he went back to packing her things. "Listen, it's not that I don't like Matty, I just worry about our son and what he might do to him"

"I won't let that happen" Wendy said firmly as she planted her hands on her hips.

"I know. I won't let him either" Jax agreed.

Wendy sighed and looked out of her doorway and could hear Juice and Matty's voices down the hall. "What are we going to do with that bastard?"

"You know, what we always do" Jax said simply.

Wendy turned her head back around and faced him. "Wait, you can't do that. You can't kill him off"

"I didn't say that" Jax looked to her. "What made you think that?"

Wendy raised her eyebrow. "Come on, 9 out of 10 times you guys kill whose been a threat to you. Even you know that"

Jax couldn't help but smile. "Half of those times have been by accident"

"He's way too powerful" Wendy warned. "If you kill him my family will know it's you. Then it's going to wreck hell here. They know you guys are bad news"

"Wh- Why do people always think that we're hell raisers?" Jax questioned.

"Wow, I wonder why?" Wendy rolled her eyes.

"Just listen" Jax said as he came up to her. "We got this, we've dealt with things like this before, alright? Trust me. Nothing is going to happen to your cousin"

Wendy crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't feel so confident after what happened this morning and afternoon"

"I know, but- Just for once. Trust us that we're doing the right thing, okay?" Jax asked soothingly as he gently ran his fingertips up and down her arms, the way she always liked it.

"Fine, hell raiser" Wendy cracked a smile.

"Finally- you give in" Jax smiled back then slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer.

"I said the same thing to Matty today" Wendy said to him.

"Really? Why?" Jax asked. "Because I remember-"

"That was the advice that I didn't follow when I was your Old Lady back then" Wendy said, Jax looked stunned but then she lifted her head up and lightly kissed his lips as if testing the waters before she jumped in. Wendy parted slightly but then Jax closed in the space shortly after with another kiss, jumping in.


	22. Fix You

"Cub meeting in about 30 minutes" Jax told Juice as he and Wendy moved to get out of the apartment.

"It's been a long day" Wendy complained to him.

Jax turned to Wendy. "It will only take 15 minutes"

"Right! Like I'm going to believe that" Wendy scoffed. "Club meetings take longer than 15 minutes"

Jax rolled his eyes and turned to Juice. "Be there soon"

"Call me in the morning?" Wendy suggested to her cousin as Juice slowly closed the door. "As soon as you wake up!"

"Well" Juice breathed out once they were alone. "We're finally home. In one piece. Thankfully"

"Don't go to the meeting" Matty moaned as she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head onto his shoulder.

"I have to" Juice kissed her on the side of her head. "We might figure out something about your ex"

"Why can't you call in, then?" Matty suggested as she looked up at him.

"I know, I wish I could" Juice traced his finger along her cheekbone. "I wouldn't want to go if it was this late at night but it concerns you. I want to stay here and I want to go to the clubhouse at the same time"

"Then come rushing home" Matty told him. "I don't want to worry about you. All that's happened today really put me on edge- just be safe"

"Or maybe you ride with me to the clubhouse?" Juice suggested.

"I don't think so" Matty shook her head. "The Tylenol is still in my system"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, I forgot, and plus you had a really rough day" Juice cupped her face and kissed her lips, lightly. "I'll see you when I get back, okay? I'll try to speed home"

"Well, if I'm not passed out already" Matty managed to crack a smile. "I'll try to stay up"

"No" Juice objected. "Just go to sleep. I'll wake you up when I'm here"

"Okay" Matty said.

Juice gave her a one last squeeze on the waist before turning to get his helmet but then a question popped into his mind. "Why didn't you leave? This obviously scares you a lot more then you let on"

Matty turned back around to face Juice, she thought about the question for a moment and then smiled. "Because, it's scarier to face things alone, don't you think? That's how our suicides happened"

Juice took a step closer to her. "Matty-"

Matty raised her hand up to say she wasn't finished. "If I had to pick between this dangerous life with you or with Peter- I would've picked you over and over again"

"This danger that's going on is about you" Juice told her. "You're still scared. I can see it"

"I was myself when I was around you this whole time. But with Peter, I had to put up this character that wasn't who I was because he was running for mayor" Matty explained.

Juice walked up to his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her once again. "I would never hit you. I promise. And he will never hurt you again"

"I know. I trust you. After everything that's happened" Matty smiled. "I know I'm safe"

"What about your parents?" Juice asked suddenly.

"What-" Matty gave him a look. "What about them, why did you ask?"

"Well, you said that he abused you" Juice shrugged awkwardly. "Wouldn't they be in danger?"

"I wouldn't care" Matty said stubbornly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why would you say that, Matty? They're your parents" Juice looked to her, confused on how fast her mood switched at just the name of her parents. "They have to know, baby"

"They started this whole thing, Juice" Matty muttered.

"How?" Juice asked.

"They set me up with him to just to get known throughout the town. And they didn't do anything when I told them that he hits me" Matty nearly yelled out as tears came to her eyes. "Do you want to know what they told me, Juice?"

Matty turned to the couch and plopped herself down. "Juice, they told me to stop making him so angry so I won't get beaten down by him"

"What!" Juice yelled out so loud that Matty jumped.

"They said for me to grow up, Juice" Matty said weakly as Juice came beside her on the couch. "That it would be stupid if I didn't marry him"

"Really? I'm so sorry, I didn't know" Juice comforted as he wrapped his arm around his girl one more time.

"Juice, I wouldn't care if that was my last time seeing them" Matty looked into Juice's chocolate brown eyes.

"Then you won't see them ever again, Matty" Juice told her.

"Thank you. I blame them for everything" Matty said. "What's the sad thing is that they haven't even called. Only once or twice and that was it. Then I was just forgotten by them"

"I wouldn't blame you" Juice spoke. "They sound like assholes. I haven't even met them and I don't ever want to now-"

Matty laughed. "Wow"

"I'm serious" Juice smiled at his girlfriend laughing. "Feel better, baby?"

"How do you do it?"

Juice cocked his head to the side. "Do what?"

"That! I was feeling like shit about my parents! Then you just said one line and now I feel happy again! How do you do it? And don't say magic" Matty pointed at him.

Juice smiled, then looked to his watch. "I gotta go"

"What?" Matty asked, perplexed and followed him to the door.

"I have a meeting" Juice grabbed his helmet. "Remember? I can't be late"

"But what's your secret?" Matty pleaded.

Juice shrugged. "Magic?"

Matty's mouth dropped open. "I told you not to say that!"

"Wh- It's the truth" Juice pretended to look hurt.

"Forget it" Matty shook her head as she tilted her head up for a kiss from him. "See you in a little while"

"Watch, it'll be over before you even know it" Juice said to her as he closed the door.

Matty smiled as she locked the door and turned to get ready for bed, barely able to keep her eyes open from all of the exhaustion. In a way, she kind of liked the adrenaline rush and then the nice quiet nights with Juice, it felt like she was in an action-packed film, even though she wouldn't be able to yell out 'cut!' when she said a line wrong.

A knock came at the door.

Matty laughed at Juice's humor as she walked over to the apartment door. "Back so soon?" she yelled through the door as she unlocked it.

But when she opened it, there as a man dressed in all black waiting for her on the other side. He stepped in and put a hand over her mouth as Matty let out a bloodcurdling scream as Juice turned the corner to go to the clubhouse at the end of the street.


	23. Patience

"Sorry for the wait, it's been pretty hectic" the doctor said as the Sons of Anarchy, Wendy, and Gemma crowded the doctor. "She had an over dosage of multiple medications, she just needs rest"

"Great! Thank you, I really do appreciate it" Wendy shook the man's hand before he turned and walked away.

"She wouldn't do this" Everyone turned to see Juice still sitting in his seat, hunched over with tears still in his eyes. "Honest, brothers, I kn- she, it's not possible, it's, it has to be, even if she left a note-"

Wendy picked her head up. "Wait. What note?"

"A suicide note" Juice mumbled.

"Let me see it" when Juice made no move to reach for it, Wendy said in a more demanding voice. "Now!"

"Fine" Juice took it out of his front pocket. "It's nothing pretty"

Wendy opened the note and felt a wave of panic and relief at the same time; the writing wasn't in hers. It was a horrible copy of it but Wendy knew her cousins hand writing and it didn't match Matty's. Which only meant that someone came in and drugged her during the night.

"Well, it's not her's" Wendy responded, making everyone, even Juice look up.

"How do you know?" Juice asked.

"I think I know my own cousin's handwriting" Wendy said as she skimmed over the note, getting sick to her stomach at how much of an effort these people put in just to kill her little cousin. "We always used to send post cards to each other. As a little joke. We did it every summer leading up to this one. This has to be Peter"

"That sick bastard, I want his head on a plate. We end this now" Jax said in a low tone. "We can't have him gain another chance at trying to kill her"

"Wait a minute, we can't just burn down that town" Gemma put her hand on her sons shoulder.

"Sounds like a nice start. I wouldn't mind. Neither would Matty" Juice mumbled. "Really, they've done nothing but try to kill her. We should do the same- just do it right. He's going to die. I don't care what you guys say. Peter Kane is going to die by my gun"

"Wait- No" Jax replied, snapping out of his rage. "Mom is right. We can't just blow shit up. It'll cause too much of a scene"

"And sends a message" Juice noted. "The right message"

"What about the people that think we're gangs"

"They would understand. If they ever had such a girl like Matty. Everyone will know not to fuck with a man's girl like that"

"We understand your pain"

Juice sprang to his feet. "Really? Do you! Cause I don't think so!"

"Calm down" Chibs placed his hand on the back of Juice's neck, a gesture a father figure could only do.

"Would you if this happened to Monique?" Juice wrenched his body away from his friend as he watched the Scottish man's face change into recognition.

"No, I wouldn't" Chibs answered.

"Exactly" Juice retorted.

"But I wouldn't want my rage to get the best of me" Chibs pointed out. "I'm no use to my Old Lady dead. You need to think about that, it's not just about you anymore"

"I know" Juice muttered.

"So stop acting like it is" Chibs took a step forward. "She needs you here, brother. Not six feet under. Do you understand that?"

"Yeah" Juice nodded. "Thanks"

Chibs straightened up and then wrapped his arms around Juice and gave a slight kiss to the back of his head. "Don't do anything stupid"


	24. Do It

"What are you doing?" Juice jumped and slammed his hand down on his laptop and looked over his shoulder to see Monique standing over him.

"I thought that you were at home?" Juice straightened up in his chair.

"I called one of the prospects, now it's my answer" Monique nodded to his laptop.

"Oh... I was looking for what the doctors weren't telling us about Matty" Juice spoke up.

"So-" Monique cleared her throat as she sat next to him. "You're not really checking surveillance camera's on Peter Kane's whereabouts?"

Juice only sat quietly, knowing he was caught and that Monique was going to tell Chibs.

"You should do it, Juice" she said to him. "I know what your planning on doing and I accept that. It's something I know Chibs would do for me. I know you're part of a club but at certain points it gets personal. I only want you to be really careful. I don't want Matty to wake up with you in the hospital bed right next to her. But something tells me that you already have a plan. It better be a good one too! All you need it a diversion. And I'm happy to help"

Juice smiled. "Thanks, Monique"

She nodded to him and gave him a small hug before they both got up, she adjusted her bag on her shoulder and pointed to him with her index finger. "You have 15 minutes"

"That's all the time I need" Juice nodded to her.


	25. Fire and Rain

Juice crept from the shadows as he stared at the house across the street, he knew for a fact that the One- Niners wouldn't be creeping around here at night. They don't do any protection of any kind unless it's of their own gang. Juice even hacked into Peter's system and told his bodyguards to go home for the night, it wouldn't be unusual for the guards to get this kind of message from him, Peter always sent them messages of some kind telling them to go home because he was going to screw a woman, he even did it when he was with Matty.

He inhaled, held it in, then exhaled before emerging from the shadows and ran across over to the front door. Juice smiled as he noticed that the way in was through a code... easy for him. Juice only did one typical password that would fit with this conceited asshole, the day he was announced as running for mayor in the tabloids. As the door unlocked, Juice rolled his eyes and quietly walked into the nice house.

Juice felt like he was dirtying the house up just by wearing all black clothing around the white marble, carpet, even some of the furniture was dead white. Juice heard movement upstairs, he crouched and took out his gun before silently sprinting up the stairs. He leaned against the wall as he peered through each door until the final door that he didn't look into, Peter's voice came through it.

"Is that you, Willie?" he called, Juice answered with pushing the door out with his foot and aimed his gun at Peter, taking him by surprise. "How the fuck did you get in?"

"Called off your guards" Juice answered.

"Listen" Peter breathed out. "What do you want? Money?"

"Your life" Juice cocked back the hammer.

"Why?" Peter asked. "Listen, Juice? Right?"

"I don't want to listen to a woman abuser like you" Juice glared. "Especially when you tried to drug her"

"She's still alive?" Peter asked, bewildered.

Juice smiled. "She's strong, Peter. You listen, Peter, I'm going to give you one last shot at leaving her alone"

"Or else what?" Peter gave him a look like as if he wasn't buying it. "Your gonna kill me?"

"Believe me" Juice nodded. "I've killed before. You won't be my first"

"Really? You've killed? Wow- Something to tell the cops. That would be interesting. You get locked up, leaving Matty defenseless"

"She's got more than just me" Juice didn't know if he was trying to confide himself or threaten Peter.

"Like who, Juice?" Peter asked.

"You know, her cousin" Juice said. "Jax. Our friends, I'm sure you remember them"

"I have friends too, Juice" Peter smiled, confidently but still had his hands raised in the air.

"Where are they, Peter?" Juice pretended to look surprised.

Peter's smile faded. "We can just talk. You- We can work this out-"

"I thought about that" Juice said.

"And?" Peter raised an eyebrow. "You'll take the money?"

"No, I'm going to kill you" Juice made up his mind.

"You can't get away with murder" Peter smiled.

"I've done it before" Juice shrugged.

"Not with someone whose running for mayor" Peter countered.

"Don't matter" Juice said to him. "Not when it comes to my Old Lady"

"She is just as good as an Old Lady" Peter laughed.

"And you're just as good as dead" Juice countered.

"Then do it" Peter challenged.

"Any last words?" Juice asked.

"Go to hell" Peter said to him.

"That's original" Juice rolled his eyes.

"And take that whore with you" Peer finished, Juice lost his cool and pulled the trigger, making Peter slam back onto the floor. Juice marched up to Peter who was having trouble breathing, he stared down at him with cold blood running through his veins and raised his gun and shot 5 more times... just for the hell of it.


	26. Understanding

"Juicey- boy!" came a familiar Scottish voice, along with a set of pounding footsteps before he heard the door bang open behind him.

Juice looked up to see Jax and Chibs staring, both opened mouthed at the destruction that Juice had made. "Look, Chibs, Jax, just listen" he waited a couple of seconds before he continued. "You saw how out of it I was because of the shit that's happened to me. I wanted to give my suicide attempt another try before you both made me go or else I'm out, that was where I met Matty, and she was the actual person that help me through this. We both cheated death before coming together. Then this asshole decided to come around and try to change our fates again"

Juice looked back down to Peter, wanting to shoot him again but he restrained himself. "He wasn't going to stop. Everyone knew it and knew how far he was willing to go until he succeeded. I couldn't let him take my happiness away from me. She's the only thing that makes sense to me right now. I know that if this guy was harassing Monique or Wendy you guys wouldn't think twice about this situation, just like how I didn't"

No one moved, they just stared at him. Until finally, Jax walked over and wrapped his arms around him. "I understand, brother"

Jax broke the hug as Juice nodded, Chibs went over and hugged the young man too as Jax looked down at the carnage, remembering how he did this to Tara's ex-boyfriend.

"Come on, let's clean this shit up..." Jax nudged the dead man on his nice white floor. "We got a lot of work to do"


	27. Something in Store

"Sorry he couldn't be the one to pick you up, Matty" Opie said as he pulled the truck up to Juice's apartment. "It's been a rough night for him"

"I know" Matty answered, she was informed by Gemma of Juice's murder. "Thanks, Opie"

Opie lifted up his hand as a wave. "Anytime!"

Matty smiled and turned as she walked over to the top floor as she heard Opie drive off. She was relieved to know that Peter was no longer in this world to torment her, but what did that mean for Juice? People would notice that Peter is missing and the first place they might look is to Matty.

She inhaled as she walked up the stairs, exhausted and her stomach hurt from the drainage and from not eating for nearly 12 hours. She didn't know whether to eat, sleep, or take a nice hot bath once she went into Juice's apartment.

But when she opened the door, Juice had immediately stopped pacing and was staring at her, almost like she if she was the one who killed Peter. She stared back, not knowing what to think. _'Would this change him?' _she thought. _'Does he think this is all my fault?'_

Matty nervously swallowed, where does their relationship go from here? She knew how out of place he got from the cops blocking him in before his suicide attempt. Would she be enough to stop him if the cops started doing it again?

_Say something! _She yelled to herself.

"Hi" Juice said first.

"Hi" Matty answered back.

"I'm sorry" Juice apologized and that's when she noticed that his eyes were brimmed with tears.

"For what?" Matty asked.

"Killing him" Juice looked to the floor, guilty.

"You shouldn't feel sorry" Matty slowly walked up to him, wrapping his arms around her waist and picking up his head just a little so that he could look into her eyes.

"I acted so boldly when I found out it was Peter who forged a note from you" Juice tried to explain.

"He deserved to die by you" Matty answered back.

Juice looked to her, almost surprised that those words came out of her mouth. "What do we do now?"

"I- I would like to continue this relationship" Matty said, hopefully.

Juice thought for a moment, until an idea popped into his head. "Then there is one-"

"Lead the way" Matty cut him off.

Juice smiled at her confidence in him, then slowly took her hand and led her to the door. He had something in store for her.


	28. Broken Strings

"I'm home" Matty called out from Wendy's house. "Well, I think this is my home, isn't it?"

Wendy appeared at the end of the hallway. "Hey!"

Matty looked around at the house, she didn't expect to be back so soon. She didn't expect Juice to kill Peter. She swallowed and looked down to her wrists and quickly hid them as she noticed a white bandage just peeking out under the sleeve.

"What a wild ride" Matty said as she plopped down at the couch.

"Tell me about it, I felt like it's been more than 24 hours" Wendy slowly sat down next to her. "I couldn't even sleep when Jax brought me to his house. I'm so glad you came out of that overdose, you're a true fighter, that bastard tried many times and you still wouldn't go down. And it only took several bullets to put him down, I'm so glad Juice did it. I mean, not to sound horrible, but it's true. He's tortured you enough, it's time you had a relationship with someone who will treat you like as if they actually love you. I hope I don't jinx this, but, I know how you feel about him, I've felt it before with Jax. I still feel it"

Matty managed a smile and a pink blush. "I never thought about after getting out of a relationship with Peter, would I have Juice waiting for me, I love him"

Wendy squealed and grabbed onto Matty's wrists in excitement, Matty let out a tiny scream and wrenched her wrists away, Wendy's eyes zeroed in on the white bandages peeking out of her jacket sleeves. "What the hell, what are you doing? Are you addicted, please no, I know how it feels, I know, I've been there before, trust me! You don't want to do this, you really don't, think about Juice! You just said that you loved Juice! Now your cutting your wrists again? I won't let you do this again!"

Matty wanted to explain but her cousin just kept on rambling on and on, so she just had to show Wendy, or else she might be shipped off somewhere unknown.

Meanwhile, Juice was having his own conflict with Chibs and Jax after a church meeting, he had a bandage on his neck similar to where it used to be before.

"Juice, why, damn it Juice!" Jax cursed as he paced around.

"I can explain" Juice started.

"No, you shut up, just shut the fuck up!" Jax exploded.

"Listen" Juice said calmly. "I can explain everything. Just give me a chance"

"No, I gave you a chance!" Jax cut him off again.

"It's not what you think!" Juice got up from his seat.

Jax pointed to the bandages. "Really? And Juice, think about your Old Lady, Matty for crying out loud, think about how heartbroken she must be feeling"

"We told you to go to the therapy sessions to get help. Not to try it again"

"I told you it was either that or you leave the club"

"Juice" Chibs sighed. "Why did you do it? Christ, Juice, was this because of the kill you made?"

"We could've had Happy do it"

"He was threatening _my_ Old Lady"

"Then why did you try to kill yourself? If you knew you couldn't take it then you shouldn't have done it!" Jax yelled. "Why? Just tell us why? You said you've never been happier. Just, tell me why?"

"I'm confused, Juice. Why did you do it?" Chibs rubbed his hand over his face.

"If you would let me explain, brother"

"Well, then, brother, explain" Chibs looked to Juice, tired. "What happened? What went wrong, brother? Please! Cause we are really trying hard to understand"

"I will, brother" Juice said. "If you two just calmed down!"

Jax was about to speak but then Juice beat him too it. "Brother..."

"Shit, bro" Jax sighed. "We thought this was all in the past"

"It is, Jax, I swear" Juice looked him in the eye.

"Don't, your lying. I can see that bandage. As clear as day!" Jax inhaled to try and calm himself down.

"Then just shut up... so I can explain" Juice said slowly.

"Explain what? We can kind of guess what happened" Jax shook his head. "You could've just told us. We could've helped you. Why didn't you tell us? You know we could've help you, right? I... I don't get it... You were so happy"

"I'll just show you" Juice took the corner of the tape and ripped it off, flinching at the pain.

_**Mathilde **_was in bold letters on the side of his neck. Chibs and Jax just stared at his neck, mouths dropped, then they just started laughing at how out of topic that they were.

_**Juan **_was on one wrist and **_Carlos _**on the other, Wendy gawked at the fresh tattoo. Matty blushed deeper at her new tattoos, it felt only right to put his name on her wrists, exactly over her scars.

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	29. Demons

"So?" Juice asked once Matty came out of the diner, he got up from his bike and kissed her on the lips.

"Wendy thought I tried to kill myself again" Matty smiled as she wrapped her fingers with his and walked down the street with him.

"Jax and Chibs thought the same with me"

Matty looked up to him in his shades. "After all we've been through?" she asked. "I was more than happy to take off the bandages, babe, I couldn't contain my excitement"

"I know what you mean" Juice laughed, the door to a cigar shop opened just in front of them, the officer glanced to them but then did a double take and stopped in his tracks, Juice stopped to and moved slightly in between Matty and the officer. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I am the head of the County Sheriff Department here, so, you would see me around a lot, this place is a Charming place to be"

"Well then..." Juice was about to lead Matty in the other direction.

"I'm sorry" the officer called out, looking to Matty with his hand extended. "What's your name?"

"None of your business" Juice all of a sudden was in the officer's face. "Back off, before you get her tangled in some shit that she can't get out of"

Matty came up to Juice and put her hand on his chest. "Juice! Let's go. We don't need this right now!" she slightly tugged on his arm. "We were just about to eat right?"

"Yeah" Juice said slowly as he backed away, not taking his eyes off of the officer.

Once Matty pulled him away far enough and turned him around, the officer spoke again. "I'm Eli Roosevelt"

Matty stopped and looked at him, this time Juice spoke up. "Don't listen to him, he's just full of crap. Trust me..."

Eli smiled. "Now, Juice don't be like that, let the woman speak for herself... you look familiar? Don't you work at the diner down the street, it's such a nice place, I'll come by and visit sometime!"

"Let's go" Juice tugged on Matty's arm.

"Is he the one?" Matty whispered, Juice did a quick nod, Matty turned back to the man. "What are you trying to get out of this from us? Fear?"

"More like annoyance" Juice muttered, sending the man a glare. "We're late for lunch"

"Mind if I tag along, Juice?"

Juice then was right in the officers face again. "Do you really..."

"Juice!" Matty quickly went in between the two men, pushing Juice with all her might but he still came at him. "Oh, Juice! Stop it!"

"It's alright, I know his habit" Matty felt the officer's hand on her shoulder, influencing Juice to do something about it. "But, he should keep in mind that I can put him in jail for his assault. Now, from good observation! I can see that you guys are a couple, congratulations. But, I must warn you, there are a few things you might not notice at first, in due time, you will. I hope"

"I should say the same about you" Juice snapped back as he wrapped his arms protectively around Matty's waist, pulling her closer to him and away from Eli.

Eli smiled, then looked back to Matty. "Trust me, if you were wise you would leave him. Do the right thing. It's safer this way. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Unless you do. In that case, then, you should just tell me what you know..."

"So that you can use it against him as black mail?" Matty cut him off, catching Eli by surprise.

"... so you do know, right?" Eli looked suspiciously to her as if she was the one who was the outlaw and not Juice.

"I know that you abused your law of power"

"Listen. If you know something that I don't, tell me" Eli coaxed.

"We're leaving"

"I'm not saying anything to you that makes you look like a better person" Matty wrenched free from Juice's grasp and was now in the officer's face. "It will put you in a cell along with all the other shady cops out there. I listened to you, now you listen to me. Don't try to act nice. I can see right through it, alright? I've been through enough to know someone who loves power more than their passion for their job. Now, I'm going to go to lunch with my boyfriend. We're going to forget that this ever happened. If I need help from the Chief of the Deputy Police I will get it. But, as of now, I don't, unless I go to the station right now and file a restraining order"

Eli chuckled and looked to Juice. "You got a smart girl. I can tell you that much"

Juice put his arm over her shoulder and kissed her temple. "That's right, Roosevelt"

"Great! I'm glad we can see eye to eye" Matty smiled. "Good day! We'll just be on our way, if that's all right with you?"

Eli looked to the couple and then took a side step. "By all means, you can go"

Juice rolled his eyes. "Finally! Come on! Let's get out of here"

"Great idea! Thank you! It was nice to finally meet you" Matty and Juice then started to walk away, happy about winning an argument with a cop.

"Before you go" Eli said. "Juice, I still need those phone calls, unless, you want me to pay a little visit. I can tell you don't want that. Do you?"

Matty felt Juice stiffen in his stance. "Juice?"

"It's alright, if you want me to come by, I can see where you've been spending your time and effort in, but don't worry, you guys can call each other through the protective shield in prison" Eli smiled.

"Don't listen to him" Matty whispered. "He's bullshitting"

"Am I?"

"Let's get out of here" Juice muttered and continued to walk. "Before this shit gets any worse"

"Remember what I said" Eli called out to them.

"Fuck" Juice whispered when they were out of his earshot. "I hate that guy"

"Yeah, me too" Matty shook her head and looked over her shoulder at him. "Why does he want you so much?"

"Cause I'm the weakest link" Juice said slowly.

"No you're not!" Matty objected.

"What, it's true! We've seen it all the time" Juice told her.

"Like how?" Matty asked. "Couple of cops harassing you? Ever heard of a restraining order?"

Juice laughed. "It's not as easy as it looks, okay?"

"Who else has been harassed?" Matty asked. "You said it happened before, right? So? Ask them for help! They're your brothers, they love you as much as I do, they'll help you through this"

"That's why I'm the weakest link" Juice told her. "I need help. They know I can't go to them because I want to do it on my own"

"Then what do you want to do?"

Juice thought for a moment. "I don't know"

"Ask for help"

"I can't"

"Then what can you do?"

Juice was silent. "Nothing"

Matty stopped, making her boyfriend stop too. "Then let me help. I'm not a Son but I am an Old Lady. I don't know what we do as of this point but I don't care. You helped me through my demon now let me help you get rid of yours"

Juice sighed. "It's not as easy as it looks. You don't want that on you. Trust me. You don't want blood on your hands" Juice looked both ways before bending his head down to hers. "Literally. It's too much. And he's in a high rank of police officers"

Matty smiled. "I'm not talking about killing him, if that's what you're thinking, alright? Trust me, Juice. All I need from you is to help me hack into his account"

Juice smiled. "Really? What do you have in mind?"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	30. Decisions

"Matty, I don't see anything that's worth our while here" Juice complained as he scrolled around on Eli Roosevelt's information, one hand propped under his chin, bored of the 45 minute research.

"There has to be something I can work with in my line of field" Matty said to him, her chin resting on his shoulder.

Juice looked to her. "You're a waitress? What are you going to do, serve his records that he's fond of on a silver platter?"

Matty swatted at his arm. "Be nice!"

"You said 'your line of field'"

"I didn't mean like that! Just something that can get under his skin"

Juice laughed. "I'm sorry, but no matter where you look, there's nothing on this guy, he's too invincible, he started abusing his power when he came into Charming"

Matty rolled her eyes. "No he didn't, you're just not looking hard enough. Why doesn't it say in detail how he arrested all those gang members?"

"What are you guys talking about, I heard something about gang arresting?" Juice and Matty both jumped and turned around to see Gemma standing behind them.

"You know, Lt. Roosevelt, we're trying to get some information off of him, in case he comes around here again..." Matty's explanation slowly died down when she felt Juice slightly pinching her.

"Oh, really, well, what have you got?" Gemma asked as she went to the kitchen to get out a beer.

Matty sighed. "Mostly information on how he put in a number of gangs into prison when he was in Oakland"

"Wow, really?" Gemma sipped her beer. "Does it say how he got them there, that could be lethal"

Matty turned to Juice. "See?"

Matty and Juice didn't have a chance to further their search until later that night, Juice had to do gun shipment runs with the rest of the club so she didn't get a phone call from him until near 11 o'clock.

"I explained to you how you can hack" Juice said through the phone. "It's so simple"

Matty rolled her eyes. "I only ended up crashing my computer"

"How?" Juice asked. "What, Okay! Never mind. We'll continue it when I have time. It's just the club is in high demand right now"

"Really, that sucks, this was getting fun" Matty said with a pouting face like as if he could see her.

"I know, it's just going to be for this week" Juice said as he tried to find something to eat, regretting how he didn't take up the offer of going over to Chibs' house for some midnight snacking. "Every once in a while this happens. You just got to be patient. It's going to last at least a week"

Aw, so does... does that mean I'm not going to see you this week?" Matty asked as she watched her toes, moving them around and staring at the new teal polish she just put on. "That's going to be horrible... for my part"

"I'll still see you at group therapy. Jax's original deal was six months"

"Was it that bad?" Matty asked, she counted back and noticed that it was nearly going to be three months into the group therapy.

"Believe me. You have no idea" Juice mused. "That was nothing but a nightmare. It was hell living that life"

"I know, you don't have to remind me, you sometimes forget that I'm in the suicide group too. I've been there" Matty perked up as she heard keys from the other side of the door. "I think Wendy's home. She's finally done seeing Jax"

"Okay, I'll text you in the morning"

Matty hung up the phone just as the door opened and Wendy came in through the door, she stopped when she noticed Matty's sweet angelic smile at her. "You don't have to hang up the phone when I come through the door"

"What makes you think I was on the phone with Juice?" Matty asked, trying to sound curious. "I was with him today, Wendy"

Wendy looked at her suspiciously. "Then what were you doing just sitting here without the TV on?"

Matty looked to the TV and noticed that it wasn't on, she turned back to her cousin who was standing there with her eyebrows raised, Matty spoke up. "I might've been talking to him"

Wendy shook her head as she walked over to the kitchen. "I knew it! You're grounded!"

"Oh, Wendy, you're favorite words from your mother" Matty smiled as Wendy came back with the left overs that Matty had made for her.

"Shut up" Wendy muttered as she joined her in the living room and turned on the TV.

"Hey, it's the truth" Matty smiled. "Your mom always used to complain to my mom, talking about how you used to always sneak out to see a certain someone. Now look, your still with the guy. Even though it took a while to get back on the right track"

Wendy smiled. "Thank God"

"I'll see you in the morning" Matty winked at her cousin before turning to the hall to go to bed.

The next morning, Matty sat down comfortably with the newspaper on the local section, bowl of cereal, and a frappachino to start off her day. Wendy came down the hall, as usual, she would've said good morning, maybe a morning joke, and get some cereal for herself. But today she came over, sat next to Matty and then said. "We need to talk, about the house"

"Why, did we not cover the bills?" Matty asked.

"No, Matty, it's just, I'm thinking about moving in with Jax"

"Really, wow, that's so great!" Matty then stopped. "So why is the house in jeopardy?"

"I don't think you can cover this house all on your own"

"You're thinking about moving out of the house" Matty said slowly. "And selling the house. That's what your telling me, right?"

"Unless Juice moves in here" Wendy blurted out.

Matty immediately felt a blush rise to her cheeks. "I can't ask him to do that"

"Why not, you slept over at his apartment when you guys were friends"

"I can't tell him to move in"

"Okay" Wendy said. "Then that leaves you to move in with him. And don't say that you can keep the bills in line on your own, we can barely get by together. When we sell the house we can split it 50/50"

Matty picked up her hand and formed it like a phone. "Good morning! I need to ask you something, can I move in with you, babe?"

"See, that wasn't too hard!" Wendy beamed. "Or you can asked him to live here"

"I don't know which is worse, it's moving so fast" Matty freaked out. "What if he thinks we're moving too fast"

"Oh, like... killing your ex wasn't speedy, come on!"

Matty made a face. "That's different"

"If he could kill for you, he would move in for you" Wendy noted.

"Maybe I want to move into his apartment?"

"That thing is barely enough size for him to fit in"

"I don't know what to do" Matty felt like her breakfast was going to go back into the bowl. "I feel like a school girl again. It's a major step"

"All right, Matty, then why don't we do this differently. We'll ask Jax how much he gives as salaries and see if it's enough to hold up the house. Then he either moves in or you move in" Wendy planned.

"It still doesn't help the butterflies, you know that right?" Matty asked.

"I know" Wendy started.

"I guess it was bound to happen. Right?" Matty asked.

"So then ask" Wendy said. "It's not going to kill you! You've cheated death twice already"

"That's not funny"

"It was to me. Now just pick up your phone and ask!" Wendy picked up Matty's cellphone. "Or I'll text him myself"

"No!"

"It's not you texting it's me!"

"Still, I'll be waiting for his answer" Matty tried to reach for the phone but Wendy moved farther away.

"Why, is this because you don't want me to move?"

"Of course I want you to be with your family"

"Then do this for me" Wendy pleaded. "Please! It would mean so much to me"

"I know, I do want you to be with Jax. It's just, my situation, I don't know how to ask him" Matty said. "It's just, so much stuff has been going for us and I don't want to damage it"

"That's normal" Wendy tried to calm her cousin down.

"50% chance he'll say no" Matty told her.

"Matty, it's more like a 75% chance he'll say yes, okay?"

"What about the 25, did you think of that?" Matty said. "I always listened to other people's advice. My parents advised me to be with Peter! Look how that went out, I nearly died being with him! Then he comes back! Now my actual boyfriend did kill him!"

"So, what makes this more frightening?" Wendy asked.

"I don't know, maybe because it's me making my decisions, not my parents... and it's..." Matty trailed off.

"It's your decision, and you want him to move in just as much as I want to be with my family" Wendy concluded. "It's just I wish this house was big enough for all of us"

Matty laughed. "I know! It's just that things have been going so right for me that I'm afraid that this might be the downfall"

"It won't" Wendy gave back Matty's phone.

Matty looked down to her phone. "You know what? I'll tell him in person"

"Are you sure, that's more nerve wracking?"

"Yeah, I think I can..."

Wendy reached forward and hugged her. "Cousins forever?"

Matty smiled into the hug. "Cousins forever"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	31. Sweet and Low

"The man at table 3 wants to speak with you" James, the shift manager said. Matty knew before she even turned around that 'the man' was Eli Roosevelt. Sure enough, he was facing her direction, sipping his cup of coffee. Matty ignored the way the manager was looking at her as she crossed the diner and went over to his table.

"What do you want?"

"Pancakes with blueberries on the side" Eli smiled. "Nice to see you again"

"You know what I mean"

"About what?"

"Don't play games with me"

"Whose playing games?"

"You"

"Me?"

"Have fun playing with yourself"

"Wait" Eli reached out his hand just as Matty turned around to go back to her customers.

She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it's my lunch break. So I came here to see if Juice's girlfriend really does work here"

Matty shrugged. "Congratulations?"

"Thank you"

"So now what?"

"I start to question you"

Matty furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "About what?" she asked as she sat down, not wanting to, but noticed that it was causing up a scene from her crew members.

"About your missing boyfriend, Peter Kane" Eli took a sip of his coffee as the blood drained from her face. "I've noticed he's pretty famous in your old town, Timberville. Such a redneck place, isn't it?"

"That's why I moved"

"Not because he beat you though, right?"

"Well, that was my motivation" Matty shrugged as her mouth went dry.

"You know, you could've gone for help" Eli advised. "You know, uh... parents, friends, and the police"

"The police aren't as trustworthy as they appear"

"Wow, that's cold. What makes you say that?"

"When my boyfriend told me that was his purpose of trying to take his life"

Roosevelt looked shocked as he looked down at the table, guilty. "I didn't mean for it to go that far. I was being manipulated just as much as he was"

"Wow, now that's bullshit" Matty smiled and shook her head.

"Hey, call it what you like" Roosevelt countered. "You weren't there"

"I actually have to thank you" Matty quoted. "Cause if you hadn't made him try to kill himself, I wouldn't have met him, cause that's the same exact thing I did when I tried to get out of a situation I couldn't stand"

Roosevelt studied her, so as proof, she raised up her wrist and pointed into the underline of her tattoo of Juice's name and that's when he saw the scar. "He's getting help, huh?"

"Yes, and staying away from people that influenced him into the hell hole he was in, like you" Matty sighed.

"Wow. Good for him" Eli nodded.

"And I intend to do the same" Matty moved to get up. "So if you excuse me..."

"We're not done, so you can sit back down"

"I have work to get back to" Matty said in a low voice.

"Don't worry, I told your manager to put you on your break"

"That's great" Matty shrugged. "Still, how would you know if Peter Kane was my boyfriend? The only connection you have is me living in Timberville. Why are you asking me about him? You don't even know my name"

Roosevelt chuckled. "But I do. You forgot this is a small town. And people really love to talk about the Sons of Anarchy. Even their girlfriends. They're like celebrities in this fucking town. So it wasn't really that hard. Mathilde Case. Matty for short. Am I right?"

Matty glared. "So what do you want?"

"I knew it" Roosevelt smiled. "Nice to finally meet you. Now let's talk about your ex-boyfriend"

"What about him?"

"He's missing"

"What do I care?"

"That makes you a suspect"

"He abused me and no one _suspected _him" Matty glared as she scooted in closer.

"Because there was no report" Eli shrugged. "There is a report on him missing"

"Check his bank account and notice that on that day he transferred money to the doctor, police, and neighbors that found me bleeding to death" Matty claimed. "And he usually likes to go off to Vegas every once in a while"

"How would you know?" Roosevelt questioned.

"I was his status quo girlfriend" Matty said slowly like as if the Lieutenant was retarded.

"Matty, do you know anything that I don't?" Roosevelt asked.

"Don't call me that, only my friends can call me by my nickname" Matty snapped.

Roosevelt raised his hands. "Okay, fine, I just came to inform you that you are under a suspects list"

"Thanks" Matty glared.

"That doesn't sound too sincere" Roosevelt said to her.

"Just because you inform me on something doesn't mean that we're going to be best friends"

"Who said I wanted to? I just thought you would want to know, to be safe. And maybe to come clean"

Matty smiled and nodded. "Fishing for a confession?"

"Do you have a confession?"

"I do actually"

Roosevelt scooted in closer. "You can tell me"

Matty looked around and scooted in closer. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

"I promise"

"And that I will be untouchable by the threat around me?" Matty asked.

Eli stared at her for a while. "I swear, if you need protection, then I will have you heavily guarded around the clock"

Matty nodded and sighed. "Okay... I sinned on the 5th commandment. The one that honors your parents"

Roosevelt flung himself to the back of his bench. "Damn it"

"I know, I'm such a terrible daughter. What am I going to do?" Matty shrugged, innocently. "I guess we'll never know. Now will we? Sorry"

"I'm serious" Roosevelt whispered. "I'm trying to solve a missing person's case, and I need to clear off all suspects"

"No, you're trying to see if I'm a weak link. And don't think for a second that I don't know that Timberville is not in your line of duty, okay?" Matty said as she stood up.

Roosevelt stared at her until he finally broke a smile. "I was right, you are a smart girl. Just don't get too cocky about it"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	32. Following Footsteps

"You said what!" Juice looked to Matty, happiness oozing out of his ears as the Sons laughed around them at the club's bar. She blushed, feeling like a complete bad ass for standing up to Roosevelt.

"Yup! He was so pissed, he actually thought that I was going to give him something" Matty shrugged and looked into Juice's eyes.

Juice snickered. "You really pushed back his raise from the police department"

"It's what he deserves"

"I gotta hand it to ya, that was some funny shit" Chibs laughed. "I mean, the 5th commandment, I would've never thought of that! Shit, that was so fucking clever!"

"Thanks. I was just thinking what would any of the Old Ladies would do" Matty blushed so much that she thought that the heat on her face was going to give her a bloody nose. "He was pissing me off anyways"

"I think you did better then any of the Old Ladies"

"Hey!"

Tig turned to see Gemma in the corner, he smiled, turned back to Matty and gave a side nod to Gemma. "Besides her"

"Damn straight!" Gemma turned to Matty. "I like you and everything but there are certain things that I still get jealous of"

"It's alright, I wasn't trying to put anyone down, I just wanted to tell everyone"

"What did we do with the body?" Everyone turned to Opie.

"What body?"

His shoulders slumped. "Don't give me that crap, I know what Juice's intentions were when he said he needed to go to the 'bathroom' that night"

"Okay, we burned the bitch and flung his ashes through the wind while we rode out"

"Roosevelt's cunning"

Happy groaned. "Way to spoil over a moment"

"Sorry for being a little bit protective of this club"

"It's alright" Jax said. "Matty even said that Peter goes off to Vegas every once in a while. She even said he was gone for a month at one point"

Matty nodded. "They would believe it since he doesn't have a girlfriend to hit anymore"

"See?" Jax waved to Matty as proof. "We'll do as we always do, act clueless, and when they realize they're wasting their time they'll split!"

"I don't know, when that Roosevelt came into town he kept on hoarding over Juice" Opie nodded to Juice, the Puerto Rican looked down at his beer. Matty turned to him and gently squeezed above his knee. He blinked out of his daze and looked to Matty and smiled to her, in return, she smiled back.

"Opie, he's not from that charter" Jax said. "Come on, the guy doesn't have shit. If he reveals what he knows to the public then they will look for him for abusing Matty. At least that's what they should do. You know, since they don't have a big fat ass wallet to fill them up, okay... just chill"

"Yeah. We've done this shit before" Tig voiced in.

"Fine" Opie muttered. "Hopefully this shit won't fall onto us"

Opie turned and walked away before anyone could say anything, Juice watched as he left into the back. "What's his problem? I've never seen him that down since-"

"Donna, it's the last week she was alive, he's been distant from Lyla" Gemma informed.

"Not again" Jax groaned.

Matty turned to Juice. "What's going on? I thought that Lyla and Opie were this great couple, what's this about Donna, I've never heard about her, who is she?"

"Opie's first wife" Juice said. "She was murdered"

"God" Matty whispered out.

"Yeah" Juice nodded.

"She was interrogated by the police" Happy spoke up, making nearly everyone around the bar yell out for him to shut up as Matty noticed what she was missing.

"Like me?" Matty asked.

"No, not like you, just different cop! The bitch was an ATF" Chibs quickly tried to comfort.

"But nonetheless! I'm walking down Donna's path" Matty freaked out.

"No, we know who killed her, it was just a misunderstanding" Tig spoke up, making everyone stop talking at once.

"Wait, you guys know who killed her?" Matty asked.

"Yeah" Juice said after a long pause.

Matty turned to Juice. "Do I want to know? Cause from the looks of it I don't think I do. You don't have to tell me, you know"

"The ATF set her up as a rat, we didn't know until after it happened" Tig spoke up again.

Matty slowly nodded. "Uh, does Opie know?"

"Unfortunately" Jax replied as he chugged his beer down.

Juice looked to Matty and noticed that even though she was trying to stomach everything that everyone was saying, she couldn't. So, Juice excused them and took her outside and showed her to the rooftop were everyone went for a breather.

"The sun feels great" Matty zoned out as she stretched back, feeling the sun on her skin. "I was getting a jacket tan from hiding my scars"

Juice looked to her. "You hardly wear your jacket anymore. I like it"

"Because it's summertime"

"The nights are chilly" Juice said.

"Maybe because I don't want to wear that jacket again? It stinks of sweat!" Matty remembered feeling uncomfortable in the heat with the black jacket on.

"Well, you know what? That's why we have washing machines" Juice smiled to her.

Matty glared. "Thanks, I'll try to find one, alright? Besides, I hardly come around to my house anymore, not unless it's late at night. Thanks to your company"

"Not as long as Wendy though" Juice leaned back so that they both were stretched out.

"Who told you that, she comes home! Eventually..." Matty looked to Juice.

"Come on, baby! We were on the phone for two hours before she came home. It's like she only goes back for the bed" Juice laughed. "Unless, she uses Jax's for a while"

"Juice?"

"What?"

"Why do you settle for your apartment?" Matty asked as butterflies swarmed into her stomach.

"Because it was all I could afford at the time" Juice said.

"Why not get a bigger one, you've got the money" Matty said.

"But I don't have the time" Juice gently touched her nose. "That's the thing"

"Well, I guess that's a key part" Matty smiled back.

"Where is this going anyways, are you kicking me out of my own apartment?" Juice asked. "That's cruel!"

"Hey, I'm just curious" Matty replied. "No harm in that. I was just curious, you know"

"Fine, I guess that makes sense, you do go over nearly 3-5 times a week" Juice said.

"So move in with me" Matty blurted out and immediately wanted to shove the words back into her mouth.

Juice looked to her. "What?"

"Move in, you know" Matty looked over to Juice. "With me. There's more room, it'll be perfect. We won't waste gas traveling around town, stay up until one of us passes out, and even sleep in the same bed again. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"What about your cousin?" Juice asked. "She'll probably get pissed, you know?"

"She wants to move out"

"Really? Why, that doesn't make sense. Matty... What did you do?"

Matty hit Juice. "Juice! She wants to be with her family. Babe... she brought it up, not me, she wants to be with Abel and Jax..."

"Why don't they live with you guys? That way she'll be with her whole family"

"You really want to live with Jax under the same roof, think about it. You'll get sick of him!"

"You know what, you're right! I would want to move out if he moved in" Juice realized.

"So what does that mean?" Matty asked, excitement running up her veins. "I mean, will you... move in?"

Juice shrugged. "I don't know"

"Please!"

"I guess" Juice slowly said, as if uninterested. "I think we should start moving my shit in right now"

Matty squealed, rolled on top of him, wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed deeply.

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	33. Day of Packing

"Let's start!"

"Why didn't we have the prospects do this again? I mean, I'd rather be sorting through piles of paperwork then this shit. Why did I even come?"

"Because you said you wanted a day away from the garage" Matty said as Gemma, Wendy, and Monique filed in after her, she convinced Juice to give up the spare key to the apartment so that it actually wouldn't take forever to move Juice's stuff into the house. The plan was that they work on packing stuff up for Juice's in the morning, then go to the Case's house in the afternoon to pack up Wendy's stuff. "Where should we start?"

"This place looks worse then I expected" Monique poked her head into the kitchen. "No wonder he comes to my house when you're not around"

"You mean to tell me that he can't cook?" Wendy asked.

"He can cook if it's Hamburger Helper"

"That's not cooking"

"Okay! Let's start packing and stop worrying about Juice's eating habits" Matty rose her voice up, getting embarrassed by her boyfriend's way of eating already.

"Fine" Wendy said. "I guess I'll start in the living room. To me, it looks the easiest"

"Gemma" Matty pointed to the kitchen.

"Matty" Gemma groaned.

"Gemma, you made fun of the kitchen first"

"Matty, that was her!" Gemma pointed to Monique who tried to hold back her smile.

"Whatever" Matty shook her head. "Just, figure it out..."

"Wait, what are you going to do, lay around?" Monique put her hands on her hips. "You need our help"

"Do you want to help me pack his room?"

"No, that's alright" Monique quickly spoke up. "I'm good with alternating from the kitchen to the living room"

"Well, it's nine right now" Gemma spoke up, looking at her watch. "Let's work until 1:30 then go to your guy's house"

"Wendy, please tell me you have more of the boxes at home" Matty said. "We took a lot in the Explorer"

"Yes, don't worry, Matty"

"Okay" Matty said. "The guys are gone all day anyways. So we won't get any calls from them. Unless, things go wrong"

"They won't call then" Gemma said. "They'll wait until they get home to tell us anything... which is why we should've had the prospects with us"

"Didn't they go with them?" Matty asked. "Sorry. It's just us. I don't wanna do this too, Gemma. But I kind of want him in the house when Wendy moves out"

"That would take forever on his own" Gemma muttered as she looked around the room.

"Exactly" Matty agreed.

"Can we have trash bags..." Gemma said as she spotted a dirty paper plate.

"Under the sink"

"I'll get them"

"What can we throw away?"

"Anything that doesn't look valuable"

"Okay, does he have a storage?" Wendy asked.

"I don't know" Matty answered. "I didn't ask..."

"Well, we'll have to find a place to put the stuff that won't fit into our house" Wendy said. "I mean... not all of this can be set around. We'll just pack. Then you and Juice can decide what to put up or down in the house. Just don't make it look like the clubhouse. Promise me that? That's all I want, okay? I've worked too hard on remodeling that house, okay. And all of my furniture, don't ruin it"

"Calm down!" Matty yelled out.

Wendy looked shocked, like as if she didn't realize that she was the one freaking out. "You can't blame me for worrying"

Hours later, Wendy exhaled as she unlocked the door to the cousin's house. The women were completely exhausted, instead of getting to work on the packing, each of the girls found a spot and plopped down in a comfortable position.

"Okay, I think I need a smoke, girls" Gemma spoke first from an armchair. "And a hot bath"

"I need an energy drink, some red bull" Matty complained from the floor. "5 hour energy drink? Coffee?"

Monique sighed and looked over to Matty from the loveseat. "Honey, Matty, I don't think any of that will help you"

"Yeah, Matty, we're running on fumes right now" Wendy replied from stretched out on the couch.

"Sadly" Matty groaned, wanting to get up but feeling the heaviness of sleep coming down on her. "I could sink into a coma right now"

"Me too" Monique rubbed her eyes. "Benji wasn't as bad as this when he was born! I feel like he was a walk in the park compared to this shit! I didn't even think that Juice had a whole lot in that little apartment. I can't believe we used up all of the boxes. And the trash bags. And there's still more left! I don't think I'll be coming back again. Sorry! I'm being honest! That boy has a lot of shit in that apartment. It'll take a week to sort that out! What was I thinking that it would only take a day. You live you learn"

"Mique, Mique!" Wendy yelled out to stop her from ranting. "I think we were all there, right?"

"Sorry, Wendy" Monique sighed.

"It's alright, I don't even feel like packing now, that was harder then I expected" Wendy looked down at her cousin. "Matty? What's wrong?"

Matty looked up to see all eyes on her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would've been this much work"

"No, it's alright" Gemma quickly said.

"Matty, it's no big deal" Monique stifled a yawn.

"We all volunteered" Wendy pointed out.

"I didn't know that it would've been that hard"

"That was just an apartment" Monique looked around the house. "This is a home, much bigger"

"Yeah" Wendy nodded. "I guess we should get started"

But no one made a move to get up, Gemma spoke once again. "Let's just have the prospects do it, ladies"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	34. Slide

"Okay, you know what? Maybe she won't come down today? She'll probably wait around at his apartment" Tig said as the Sons of Anarchy sat around their round table. "You know, she does that from time to time. We'll be safe"

"Tig!"

"Juice told her to come back with the Ladies when they were done" Happy said, glumly as he looked at a bullet he had in his hand.

"Happy's right" Opie nodded as he remembered the Puerto Rican hugging his girlfriend.

"Christ..." Chibs breathed out a trail of smoke.

"We have to tell her the truth" Jax rubbed his eyes. "It's the only way"

"Who knows, maybe she can help?" Happy shrugged.

"How?" Opie questioned.

"Opie, you remember what she said to the officer a couple of days ago? She has a pretty lethal mouth when she wants to use it" Chibs reminded him.

"I remember, Chibs" Opie nodded. "But it won't be enough"

"Well, she's still his Old Lady" Jax reminded the group. "She has to know. It's her right"

"Now?" Happy asked as he glanced at the time.

"Happy, she's..." Chibs started.

"I think we should wait until morning" Tig spoke up.

"What, why would we, that's stupid" Jax looked to Tig.

"We already have one problem on our hands" Tig replied. "Bringing Matty into this will cause more drama"

"I would want Mique to know what happened to me" Chibs pointed out.

"That's different" Tig said.

"How so, I would want my mom or Wendy to know" Jax put in.

"Wendy and Baby M are mothers to your children" Tig pointed out. "I mean, she's not. At least I hope not right now, brothers"

"Bullshit!" Jax spoke louder.

Chibs ignored the outrage from the President and spoke level-headed with Tig. "Brother, come on. He needs her. We all have seen Juice when he was down and out. We can't have that happen again"

"Should we vote, it seems like it, everyone's 50/50"

"No..."

"Why not, brother. Sounds fine to me" Opie spoke up.

"Because, you know the rules" Jax said sternly to his VP.

"There are two things that we don't vote on: The bikes we ride, and the women we fuck, that's the top code, remember, deep rule" Happy recited.

"I know"

"So why vote? It's pointless"

Just as Opie, Tig, or Happy could say anything about voting; voices came from the entrance of the clubhouse, female voices. The guys all looked out of the window to see some of the Old Ladies coming in from a hard day of packing, they bet. All of the eyes of the Sons zeroed in on Matty, whom out of all of them, looked to be smiling brighter then any of the other Ladies.

"We have to tell her, brothers"

"Yeah. Even if it kills her, Jax?"

Jax looked over to Opie, thinking about challenging him but instead he stood up. "Yes..."

The Sons of Anarchy filed out of the church just as Matty rounded the corner to go into the halls.

"Was it a good day, Jax?"

"Mom, where is she going?"

"She's going to the bathroom. Did someone clog up the toilet again?" Gemma asked, just about to go after the girl but Jax shook his head.

"No... It's just... we need to talk to her" Jax felt like a rock was lodged in his throat, just waiting to burst his throat out from the inside-out.

"What happened?" Gemma asked, a panic rising on her face.

Matty came back, she searched the room. "Hey, where's Juice?"

"He's in the bathroom" Tig replied back.

Matty looked at him suspiciously. "I was just in there"

"Oh, right"

"So, where is he?" Matty asked.

"He's running a little late"

"Oh"

"He'll be here in a little bit" Happy chipped in.

"I'll just wait here then" Matty said as she made her way over to her cousin.

"He could be running late" Tig spoke up.

"Juice is helping the prospects patrol tonight" Happy smiled, glad on his part of the lying.

"Oh, okay"

"You can go home if you like" Tig put in. "We'll let him know where you are. He'll be back in no time"

"Now you're scaring me" Matty said slowly. "Something's up, I can tell, you guys are trying to hide something, I can see it"

"Your just getting paranoid, are you on your period?"

"Tig!"

"I'm just saying"

"The answer to that is no" Matty answered. "Thank you very much"

"Okay, you know what?" Happy said. "Let's just all have a drink. How about that? Come on... it'll be fun!"

Gemma turned back around to Jax who was muttering under his breath about Tig and Happy being complete retards. "So? Where is Juice? Please, tell me something didn't go wrong with the cartel"

"Not exactly" Jax answered.

"Wait, what..." Gemma turned and looked at Happy, Matty, and Tig clanking their shot glasses with smiles on their faces.

"Yeah" Jax swallowed. "Some of the guys don't want to tell her. But Chibs and I think we should. It's best that she knows"

"Wait, what happened?" Gemma asked.

Jax looked down to his mom then walked around her and slowly made his way over to the little blonde girl. As if she knew he was coming, she turned around and smiled through her lime. "Hey, come on... have a shot with us! It was Happy's idea, you know, we should do this more often! You guys got plenty of liquor to go around"

"Matty" Jax sent a glare to Tig and Happy. "I need, there's something, it's about... Juice"

Matty looked around and noticed all eyes were on her and silence filled the room. "He's not patrolling?"

Jax shook his head. "No. He's... He was..."

"You should probably sit down" Opie was suddenly beside her. "You need a glass of water, Matty. Trust me. You'll need it..."

"That's a great idea"

Matty didn't move but somehow, Opie picked her up, brought a stool under her, and sat her down. "There you go. Matty?"

"What happened to him?"

"You still need a glass of water" Jax looked behind the counter. "Get her some water"

"I don't want any fucking water!"

"Calm down" Jax said soothingly.

"Then tell me where he is" Matty said through a sore throat, shaky voice, and burning eyes. "What happened to Juice?"

"Well, we were supposed to go to the cartel" Jax started.

"Then, what happened?"

"Well, we... Were ambushed, to say the least" Jax's mouth went dry and he wished to drink a glass of water himself. "It was the police, Roosevelt. He had permission from the Timberville police station, Roosevelt claimed that Juice killed Peter. They arrested him. I'm sorry, but we lost his trail when we tried to follow them"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	35. Facing His Demons

"Wait, Jax, he's missing?"

"I'm afraid so"

Matty first felt the rush of blood flow through her ears, the sound drowning out what Jax was trying to say. Her heard had a slight headache to it as she realized what she has done in running away from Peter. She thought that burying him was the end of their problems, she didn't think of how Juice would be effected in the end. Matty then realized that her head lodged back and in slow motion she noticed that Gemma and Jax tried to catch her as she fell back... the last thing she saw was Wendy's face as she rested Matty's head onto her lap.

The next thing she knew was that it was barely morning from the golden glow coming through the window. Matty was sure that she didn't sleep all night and had a slight remembrance of Gemma giving her a pill and water before passing out again.

"No word?" She heard in the hallway. "Or they just won't tell us"

"Both" Jax's voice drifted. "I don't know, every time I call they just keep on directing me to Roosevelt, he tells me the same old cocky shit"

"Jax, you know, I've been thinking" Wendy sighed. "Maybe you should tell them a little piece of information. Something that doesn't hurt you guys in order to bring Juice back"

"Wendy, everything that's happened in the past 5 years has everything to do with today" Jax said. "We can't sell any information to that bastard. He's too smart, and he knows that. He also knows that Juice might crack down in jail, he can't stay in there for so long"

"Hey" she heard an old, unfamiliar voice.

"Thank God you're here" Matty heard Gemma as she peeked through the hallway to see Gemma hugging an old, nearly bald man. Wendy was sitting with Jax as a table, both smoking a cigarette.

"Well, hope you had more fun then me" Jax breathed out, hopelessly.

"I got a little information, it's not much" the man said as he walked over with Gemma to the small table. "They're holding him at the Timberville jail station"

"Well, at least it's not in the state prison"

"It's still bad" the man said. "Timberville cops act like they're bad ass"

"Which means?"

"They'll be drilling him for at least half a week before they're satisfied" the old man informed.

"Shit"

"Exactly" the man sighed. "There's another problem too"

"Great" Gemma rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

"The police station is secret"

"Wait, come again?" Wendy gave her glare that usually means she's confused. "What do you mean secret?"

"No one knows where it is" the old man replied. "Not unless you've been there before, otherwise, you can't find it"

"Wow, Wayne" Gemma sighed. "You really know how to break a girls heart, you know?"

"Sorry" 'Wayne' said with a small shrug.

"Yeah, well tell that to the broken- hearted girl in Juice's club room" Gemma said.

"How is she?" Wayne asked as he pulled a seat up.

"Well, she's drugged out now" Wendy answered. "Thanks to Gemma, not that I don't mind, it's just, I don't want her to wake up, it's too painful to watch, we can't have her wake up to this news, she's got to have something she can work with, or else we're looking at her mentally breaking down. That's what I'm scared of, you know? She's like a little sister to me. I mean, God, I've always been there for her. But right now, I don't know what to do"

Jax reached out and grabbed onto her hand. "I know"

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Kill Roosevelt"

Gemma gave her son a glare. "I mean logical, we can't just kill a cop"

"We killed a person running for mayor" Jax shrugged.

"Yeah, look what happened?" Gemma turned to Wayne. "Is there anything we can do according to the book? They can only hold Juice for 48 hours"

"Yeah, but they shady"

"All cops are shady, no offense. What makes them any different, you know. But still, all we can hope for is the 48 rule, then he can come home" Jax said. "And you wanna go by the book? That's stupid, okay? It's never helped us before. Now you want to do that, with us?"

"Hey, it's worth a shot"

"There's no way that'll work out"

"I can probably try"

"You? You were a drug addict before this" Gemma pointed out.

"And I'm cleaned up" Wendy finished.

"So, they don't give a shit" Gemma answered.

"Alright, mom, we get it"

"Good"

"So, now we're back to square one, no where" Wendy let her head roll back, her long blonde hair falling back with her.

"There's nothing we can do" Jax said. "We can find batman's cave more then Timberville's police station"

"That place is a maze" Gemma shook her head. "Only a native will know where to go, but even then, the resident's don't know where it is, so we're screwed"

"Unless, Matty?"

"No"

"Why not?" Gemma asked. "She's a native. She'll probably know"

"Where the police station is?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah, she was Peter's girlfriend. So, maybe, they went there, you know. For campaigning. I mean, it would make sense, right?"

"I don't think so" Wayne shook his head. "Shit! No one does that here!"

"So, it's worth a shot?"

"To telling her that we can't get to him"

"Yeah" Jax sighed. "You know, Wendy, nice plan but it won't work"

"Trying to help" Wendy muttered.

"We know..." Gemma said. "We all are"

_But they did. _Matty crept back over to the room she was in to grab on her shoes, she would use the back door to slip out. She grabbed onto her bag, glanced down the hallway and heard the four still discussing what to tell Matty. Matty was about to leave when she noticed something on Juice's drawer that caught her eye, it took her a while to think up of a plan in using it or how to use it, with a quick swipe, she slid the object into her purse and then continued to listen down the hall.

Then, with a quiet sprint, she went down the other direction until the she found the right dead end and opened it to the back of the club house. Matty put on her shades as she went around the building until she found her car where she left it the night before. Matty turned on the car with an adrenaline rush that made her more encouraged to get Juice back then afraid of what the consequences would be.

Matty slammed open the Charming Station. "Hey, Roosevelt, where is he?"

"In his office, I'll call"

"No, I'll be there before the first ring" Matty said without stopping for the man to get her name, or give her permission.

"Wait, come back here" the receptionist called out.

Matty opened up the door and made her way to a surprised Roosevelt's face. "He's got nothing to do with this, and you know it"

"I was wondering when you were going to pop up"

"Tell me the address to the Timberville Station, now" Matty said. "Or I'll have my stilettos that are bigger then your dick stuck up your ass, which sounds more appealing to you?"

"Wow, you know you're in a police station, right, I can just take you down the hall to a cell" Roosevelt informed.

"I know, and do you want to know what I also know, this will surprise you, Eli, but I know you are concerned of Juice..." Matty was cut off.

"Didn't your friends tell you that I arrested him, cause I did" Roosevelt said. "I think that's just called doing my job. I don't care what happens to him"

"Hey, everything was fine until you decided to ruin everything" Matty fired back. "You're just mad that he hasn't called you since he met me, and your jealous but hey, you have a wife... and Juice is my guy whom I will fight for until you decide to leave him alone"

"Hey, I had a deal with that guy" Roosevelt countered.

"It's called blackmail in everyone else's book" Matty said.

"He's a biker"

"Your point?"

"People will judge, you won't have a normal life" Roosevelt began. "What about your parents? They only want what's best for you, and here you are. Alone, troubled, and shattered, how does that make you feel? Knowing that everyone wanted a better life for you, but you threw it back in their faces"

"Shut up, officer" Matty cut him off.

Roosevelt smiled. "Why? Am I hitting a rough spot? Too painful to talk about?"

"I'm not a weak link" Matty folded her arms over her chest.

"A what?"

"A weak link" Matty said. "Someone who just tells you all of the stuff you want to hear"

"Like Juice?"

"No. He didn't give you shit" Matty objected.

"How do you know?"

"Because that's why you needed a reinforcement from another shady cop"

"I'm not a shady cop"

"Then who gave you the 'link' that said that Juice was the killer?" Matty said. "You must've known something, right?"

"I do" Roosevelt nodded. "But I why would I say anything to you?"

"Please, I'm begging you, I'll do whatever it takes to bring him back, he can't survive being behind bars again, you scarred him for life, I need to get to him before he starts to lose his mind, he needs to know that he's okay. He'll kill himself..." Matty closed her eyes and took in a breath as a tear went down her eye.

"Look. I'm sorry" Roosevelt said. "I was just doing my job. They were asking about you and usually the prime suspect would be the boyfriend"

"Wait, I never told anyone in Timberville where I was living" Matty put her hands on her hips.

"Really?" Roosevelt raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Peter claimed that he knew where I was" Matty lied.

"Well, he wasn't the only one" Roosevelt leaned back on his chair and folded his arms together.

"Then who, tell me"

"Wow"

"Juice's life is at stake" Matty said slowly. "If you know someone I might know, then tell me who put him in there. He needs me"

"Okay" Roosevelt said. "But you really don't need to look far"

"Roosevelt!"

"Mathilde?"

"Okay, fine, you caught me, I'll tell you" Roosevelt raised his hands up in the air. "This may come to a shock but it was your parents, they ordered an arrest on him"

"What, no, I don't believe you, they never even called me" Matty said as she felt her heart pounding in her ears again. "Not once, not even when I was in the hospital, are you sure? David, Jarnett Case? Of course they would, they only care about status quo"

Matty turned on her heels and left.

"Paying a family visit, are we?" Roosevelt called after her.

"You guessed it" Matty answered back. "They won't come to me so I'll just have to come to them"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	36. Meet her Parents

Never in her near life that Matty thought that she would go back to Timberville, she didn't think that she would come back at all, but yet, here she was! Driving down the once familiar roads with tall trees bursting around them that it looked like the tips of the trees lead up to the mountains up ahead. Matty drove down a familiar street and was at least thankful that her parents were home on a Saturday afternoon. She parked the car and walked up the steps to the front porch, Matty always kept a key for her parents house but a thought made her stop.

Fire burned inside of her once again, so instead of unlocking the door with a key, she formed her hand into a fist and punched it through a glass, wincing at the pain as she heard her mother's startled scream. Matty found the latch, unlocked it and let herself in.

"I'm home!" Matty yelled out to the top of her lungs as she made her way to the living room.

"Matty!" her father exclaimed in surprise as they faced her. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Just on the verge of it" Matty gave them a mocking smile.

"You're hand is bleeding"

"My wrists were bleeding at one point and you never gave two shits about it"

"That was on your own account, you did it for attention" her father shot back.

"No!" Matty yelled out. "I did it to get out of the life that you forced me into!"

"Matty!"

"Why did you force an arrest on my boyfriend?" she looked from one parent to the other. "Mom, all you had to do was call. You have my number"

"Don't you know his background?" her mother countered. "He's a criminal!"

"Seriously, we had your future planned out for you, a bright husband, rich, someone that would make you live like a queen" her father said. "And you threw it away, for a low- life"

"Dad, it was either I throw my life away or I get killed by that bastard that you set me up with" Matty glared at her father.

"You had to stop making him so angry all the time" her mother said in a pleading voice. "You just, make him so angry. You needed to learn, darling"

"That's why we had that man locked up"

"Matty, he was going to hurt you eventually" her mother said kindly.

"Just to keep him away from me" Matty finished.

"You don't know what kind of embarrassment that you put on us when you disappeared with your cousin like that" her father spat. "People rose suspicions, the police..."

"It was horrible, some even thought you were dead, honey, we had to lay it to rest" her mother cut in.

"Good, because I wanted to die that night" Matty replied. "But that man you have behind bars, he was the reason why I still want to live, and he needs me just as much as I need him"

"You need us" her mother took a step closer to Matty.

"You need to go to rehab" her father objected. "Get help"

"No! I don't need you or any of your fucking professional help!" Matty screamed.

"We are doing what's best for you" her father said.

"Where were you when I told you that Peter abused me?" Matty challenged.

"Think of the tabloids! You would've caused so much drama! For all of us!" her father waved to her mother who nodded.

"You only wanted what's best for you"

"I said no such thing!"

"You only cared about the fame your stupid shit..."

"You watch your mouth!"

With a quick hand motion, Matty put her bleeding hand into her purse, grabbed the object and aimed it at her parents. It was Juice's gun, her hand slippery from blood even though she held it still as she aimed it at her fame obsessed parents.

David Case slowly brought his hands up. "Calm down, Matty, we can talk this through"

"I want my boyfriend out of the station, now!" Matty said with a shaky voice that she was sure wasn't her own.

"You know we can't do that, Matty, he needs to go away, for your safety, your future, don't you want that?" David asked.

"My future is with him" Matty stated firmly. "You're going to drop all of the charges you have on him and confess that you knew about my beating"

"What?" David looked like he was going to go back to his stern side but Matty took the safety off. "Okay, listen, here's what I'll do. I'll... I'll bail him out, okay, then you come home, and live back here"

"No"

"Come on" David said. "You need to, we'll support you. You wanted us to be there, now we can. For... for the family..."

"I'm going to go back to my life with Juice and whatever you say has no use"

"But, please. For... for your mother" David turned to Jarnett.

"Matty" she said slowly. "Think about what your doing"

Jarnett took in a shaky breath. "Please, honey, look at what your doing. Your threatening your own parents. For a boy?"

"No, mom, my life" Matty clenched her jaw.

"Mathilde" David began.

"Your going to confess about knowing everything"

"Listen, think about what everyone's going to say"

"Oh God, that's all you ever think about" Matty rolled her eyes. "Then you should've been real parents in the first place"

"Then let's start right now" David pleaded.

"Too late" Matty glared.

"Matty, don't make us beg. We want you back with us" Jarnett said. "We miss you"

"If you really love me then set my boyfriend free. Mother, I'm going to put a bullet through his head..."

"Stop" Jarnett took a step forward. "This is your father! He loves you more than any man should!"

"Well, you shouldn't have set me up with that asshole and tried to get rid of my boyfriend" Matty cocked the barrel.

"Okay, honey, okay!" Jarnett yelled out. "Fine, we'll do whatever you want. Okay, we'll do it, okay! Just don't kill him! Don't kill your own father! I beg of you! Don't do it! Please!"

"When this is over I never want to hear from you, Mathilde" David said.

"David!"

"Don't you want to get out of this alive!"

David turned back to Matty. "I never want to see you around here again"

"Fine, just stay out of my life" Matty smiled.

"Wait a minute" Jarnett yelled out.

"Too late. Sorry, Jarnett"

"Yeah" Matty looked to her mom. "It's too late. You can't change anything"

David sighed. "Tell me what you want me to say to the cops"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	37. Whatever It Takes

"You sure really love this guy" David mumbled as he drove down a dirt road, the setting sun casting golden rays in between the shadows. "To come over here and threaten us like that"

"Yup" Matty said, still having the gun aimed at her father as he drove. "More then you I guess"

"Damn it, I knew we should've kept a better watch on you, Peter told us he would bring you back"

Matty turned back to her father. "What, when did he say that?"

"When you left, of course"

"He went looking for me, and decided to have a couple of gang bangers try to kill me in the process"

"You've been bringing a lot of news here, just so you know. He was trying to make them stop because it was ruining his votes" David informed.

"Good for him..." Matty's voice trailed off, the police station came into view and now she noticed why a lot of people couldn't find the place, it looked exactly like a forest ranger station. "Guess people liked me after all"

"Didn't you like it? The fame?" her father asked.

"People thought of you like a first lady" Jarnett spoke up from the back seat.

"To be honest, no, I thought it was annoying. You guys liked it because it boosted up your shop" Matty said as she remembered smiling to the camera and either her father or her mother would be by her side for the newspaper's. "You even told me to mention that shop, I was a salesman to you. Plus... even though you dressed me up like a princess, I knew you were setting me up to be the perfect bride. To keep it tight lipped"

"You were our only daughter"

"That you wanted as a trophy"

"We've always took care of you. Now it was time for you to take care of us" Jarnett said. "You were our only option, Matty. What did you want us to do?"

David turned off the car, Matty turned to her father. "You know the deal, you get my boyfriend out, drop the charges. You will never hear from me again"

"Yes, I know"

"Don't try anything crazy, I have more friends to be scared of then just Wendy"

Matty could just see David gulp. "Okay. Then let's get this over with, can't wait to get that damn gun out of my face, and live a normal life"

"But, we'll miss you"

"Cut the crap, you'll miss the fame, not me"

"You are so selfish, you know that?" David muttered.

"Oh, David, if there was only a way to make you see how you acted when I was young. It was like you knew you were going to set me up with Peter all along" Matty said with a small smile.

"We did knew" David said.

"What did you say, dad?" Matty asked.

David looked to her. "We were in bankruptcy when you were a little girl"

"Don't tell her!"

"We payed you off with a betrothal, to call it even"

"She has a gun!"

"Exactly, if I stop now she'll put a bullet in my side"

"David, we won't see her again!" Jarnett said.

"Thanks for telling me" Matty said to her dad.

"Matty?"

"You should've stopped him sooner, mom"

"Why's that?" her father asked.

"Because, you're going to tell the cops, David"

"What if I don't?"

"I'm pretty sure you know my threat" Matty wiggled the gun a little. "I even have a fair aim when it's a great distance"

"But, that might put us in jail"

"For selling your own daughter"

"Wait, for a stupid boy?"

"Watch your mouth, I'm not aiming at you but I'm aiming at your husband" Matty glared at her dad. "So if you wanna keep talking, I'll just..."

"Stop" Jarnett said. "How would you know if he'll confess everything? You won't be in there, will you?"

"Jarnett, stop..."

"Mom, I'll know" Matty nodded.

"But, David..." Jarnett scooted up in her seat.

"It's too late"

"So why did you tell her?" Jarnett exploded. "You could've just set her boyfriend free! She could've just left, but you! You just had to open up your big mouth! Now... Look! She's going to tell the police!"

"It's what I learned in school"

"You're so stupid! Why, why would you do that!"

"It just came out!"

"I can see that, but why does she have to know, she could've left satisfied?" Jarnett asked. "You're so stupid sometimes! I swear, I could wring your neck!"

"Okay!" Matty yelled out. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?"

"Fine" David said bitterly.

Matty led them over to the police station, both silent and stiff, not wanting to talk with their daughter leading them to their fates. Right when her father opened the door to let them in, Matty quickly ran in the the receptionist.

"Sir, my father would like to confess" Matty said innocently.

"Excuse me, of what?" the receptionist glanced from Matty, to her father, to her freshly cut up hand and back again.

"Of wrongly accusing Juan Carlos Ortiz to a murder"

"Okay? I will need to lead him into a private room"

"And there's more, for fraud" Matty put in.

"Fraud, okay, anything else?" the receptionist asked as his eyes widened in surprise.

"One more thing" Matty said. "For trying to sell me off to Peter Kane to tie up loose ends with the previous mayor"

"Well, is that true?" the man asked over to her father. "We need to hear from him"

David looked to the man then down to Matty, he clenched his jaw and did a slight nod. Matty turned back around with tears in her eyes. "Please, my boyfriend's been wrongly accused, he's got nothing to do with this"

"We'll take your father in for questioning, then we'll set your boyfriend free"

"Thank you" Matty nodded.

"No problem. Just stay here with your mother" the man said.

Matty turned to her dad. "This was all on you. Since the day I was born, you knew this would come and bite you in the ass"

"I should've given you a reason to not do this to me" David said as an officer cuffed him.

"You should've been a father" Matty nodded.

"Maybe" David said.

"Yeah, that would probably been the game changer... but I love my boyfriend, more than you attempts to be my father" Matty folded her arms.

"You're right, sweetie. I guess I was wrong about you"

"You're damn right"

"When this is over" David inhaled. "I'll start over"

Matty laughed, rolled her eyes, and shook her head as the officer took him down the hall. She walked over to a chair and sat down, impatiently waiting on her father's interrogation and Juice's bail that she even forgot her own mother sitting down awkwardly next to her.

"Well, I hope your happy, now. And that's saying a lot" her mother's shaky voice disrupted Matty's thinking.

"I am, mom, thanks for asking" Matty said with a smile like as if nothing was wrong.

"Don't act like that to me, you put this on yourself"

"What! Being born into a family that only thought of me as a bribe?"

"Running away like you did" Jarnett said in a hushed tone.

"If I stayed in that hospital, you would've locked me back up with him" Matty ended with the last word dripping with acid from her tongue.

"Matty, you need to stop thinking about someone other than yourself" Jarnett shook her head.

"Oh, now it's me whose been only thinking about myself the whole time?" Matty put a hand over her heart to emphasize.

"We would've helped you" Jarnett said. "With professional help"

"Really..."

"Why make such a bold statement like that?" Jarnett looked around. "Cutting your wrists like that?"

"What..." Matty looked down to her tattoos, remembering that she could no longer see her scars because of Juice's name over them. "I wanted to end my life..."

"Exactly" Jarnett cut in. "What do you think would happen? Did you really believe you were going to die in that house?"

"I did want to die in there" Matty nodded.

"You never thought about what it would do to the whole town?"

"That's why I wanted to do it"

"What? Because of..." Jarnett looked utterly confused as Matty turned to her. "Because of the pressure he put onto me"

"You tried to kill yourself because of the pressure, what? No one forced you into any of the campaigns, you agreed to them" Jarnett countered.

"You forced me into them" Matty said through clenched teeth.

"I just suggested them" Jarnett straightened up and looked away from her own daughter.

"No you didn't" Matty said to her.

"I did it for the better of the town" Jarnett tried to explain.

"You did it because you had the power in your own hands" Matty corrected.

"No" Jarnett said. "If I wanted to have power like that I would've tried marrying the mayor"

"Maybe that's it then, you married dad instead, now your stuck with someone who barely makes a name for himself, and you would do anything to get into the town's newspaper, so you sell your own daughter as a make-shift celebrity" Matty explained.

"Damn it, Matty, you don't understand..."

"You sound just like Peter"

"Maybe Peter was right"

"On abusing me?"

"He needed you, he supported you" Jarnett said. "Then you leave, just like that? With a hood... street rat, you really lowered yourself this time"

"You know what, I would chose Juice over Peter any day of the week, that I would take to my grave. You'll see"

"Matty, what happened to Peter?"

"What, why would I know" Matty asked. "I never saw him again... not after he threatened me"

"Well, Mathilde, he said he went after you" Jarnett explained. "Well, first, he said that he went to a car shop with poor help, someone named Juice"

"So?" Matty asked.

"So, Matty, Peter kept his composure, unlike that man, you should see his record, it's enormous, all those bad things he's done, good luck finding a job with him in tow, you'll need it, he'll certainly bring you down" Jarnett shuddered like as if Juice was some kind of bug in front of her right now. "You should be proud"

"He might have a big record but he has never hurt a woman like the way Peter has"

"And how would you know?" Jarnett glared at her daughter. "You've only been with him for a short period of time. He'll change. Matty, I know it"

"I doubt it"

"I know he will. Just give it time, dear"

"No, he loves me"

"Peter did. Now look at him. If you could only see him now" Jarnett sighed. "Wherever he is"

"Fine..." Matty shrugged and looked at her mom. "Just don't end up like Peter"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	38. Freedom

An officer approached the furious mother and daughter, "Jarnett Case, you're going to be held for questioning"

"I don't understand, officer" Jarnett looked astonished as another officer approached her, raising his hand to help her out of the seat.

"Ma'am, just come with us" he said, obviously if Matty's father was going to go down, his wife was going to come with him. "We have an interrogation room set up for you"

"Well, I guess you guys have more skeletons then what you've let on" Matty stood up and folded her arms across her chest.

"Sweetheart, please" Jarnett pleaded. "Please, stop this madness. It isn't funny anymore"

"Sorry, Mother" Matty shook her head.

"Sweetheart, please. Please" Jarnett kept on pleading as the cop brought the fussing mother to the back of the room and for once, Matty felt bad, but you know what they say, you have to sleep in the bed that you made.

"I'll make sure to be a good daughter" Matty said sarcastically.

"Mathilde Case?" she heard a deep voice behind her.

"Yes?" Matty turned, at first she thought that she too was going to go off in handcuffs, but the man did a side nod to a small hallway in the corner of the station. Juice came out of the corner hallway, his vest in hand, deep shadows under his eyes and even looked too tired to stand, it wasn't the sight that she had hoped for when being reunited with Juice but it was better then seeing him behind bars.

"Juice!" she screamed out, making Juice's head snap up in the direction of her voice. "Oh, God. Baby!"

Matty quickly rushed past the small desks as Juice made his way over to her as quickly as he could, then he finally embraced her in a tight hug but probably didn't realize how much weight he was putting on her. "I was afraid I wasn't going to see you again" Juice barely whispered.

"I mi..."

"I missed you, too" Juice gave a tight squeeze. "How did you know? Matty? They said no one knew where this place was. How did you..."

"Oh, I just went on my own mission, Juice"

"But how, baby?" Juice asked through her hair. "I mean, it's not that easy to find, there's 15 minutes worth of driving on a dirt road to get here. I would've given up a long time ago if I had to find this place"

"Don't worry" Matty finally broke the hug. "I'll explain on the way back home. Juice?"

"Yeah, let's leave" Juice gave glares to almost everyone in the room that was watching them. "You know, baby, I've never been more happier to see you, I'm glad that you came when you did, you know, I don't know what I would do, I mean, I wouldn't try to kill myself. I just. Didn't know what was going to happen"

"Which is why I came"

Juice grabbed onto her hand but Matty winced and pulled it away because he had grabbed onto her cut-up hand, Juice brought it up to the light for him to see. "Oh, God. What happened to your hand?" Juice looked into her blue doe eyes. "Wait? When you said that you went on your own mission how dangerous was it? From a scale of 1-10? And don't lie"

"Well, I would say a 5" Matty shrugged and wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder as they left the station.

"Some how, I doubt that" Juice muttered as Matty's smile went wider.

"I'll let you know about everything" Matty promised.

Once they stood outside in the now night air, Juice cupped Matty's face and kissed her with warm lips. Matty smiled into the kiss as she felt Juice's strong back, now leaning over her. He broke the kiss and brought his forehead to hers, smiling down at her before kissing her forehead. A slow clap came from the darkness as they both turned to see who it was.

"Well, I was wondering when you were going to show up..." Matty said as she made her way down the stairs as Eli Roosevelt approached them from the darkness.

"Mathilde, I had to see if you were going to be locked up" Roosevelt turned to Juice. "Juice, glad to see you're out. Mathilde... I have to admit... you are one determined woman. I'm impressed! I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover, right? You know..."

"Thanks for coming, but we really should be going" Matty moved with Juice around the officer.

"Yeah, if you'll excuse us" Juice said. "We have to go back to Charming, the place I belong"

"Wait" Roosevelt called out. "I came to apologize, we were mislead. The Timberville station had called us not too long ago"

Matty turned around. "Wait. What are you talking about?"

Juice sighed. "We don't need to hear his crap"

"I'm assuming your parents didn't tell you" Eli pointed to Matty.

Matty rolled her eyes. "About what this time?"

"They apparently hired a hit man to kill Peter Kane" Eli informed them.

"What, how do you know?" Juice asked.

"He confessed about everything"

"Well, care to tell us more?"

"Apparently, Peter was going to tell the whole town how they paid you off as a bribe to his father"

"So, then my parents hired a contract killer?"

"Seems like it, Mathilde. Now it's up to Timberville to decide how big the threat is" Roosevelt said. "I came to get Juice out, but it seems like you beat me to it, before hearing about the news. But then, how did you get him out? And Mathilde? What's wrong with your hand, it looks cut"

"Let's just say, I had to find out the hard way" Matty smiled.

"Well..." Roosevelt studied her. "Have a safe trip home, and just for the record, the deal we have is off. Your girlfriend, Juice. She's pretty convincing"

"That's why I love her"

"Now, can we go?"

"Yeah, get out of here" Roosevelt nodded.

"Thanks, Roosevelt, we'll see you back in Charming"

"Your bike is by my car"

Juice turned around as his smile went bigger and bigger as they made their way over to Roosevelt's car and sure enough, Juice's motorcycle was right next to it, as if welcoming it's rider back into freedom. "This night keeps getting better and better"

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	39. Home is Where the Heart is

For not sleeping for even 15 minutes in the cell, Juice rode very well out of Timberville. Even though Matty had saved him from his past, she felt like she was the one that was still in the arms of her protector. Matty gave a small kiss to Juice's tattoo of her name and she saw the corner of his lips turn as they past the 'Welcome to Charming' sign. She noticed that she was more then eager to leave that horrible place behind her, to continue with her new life and start living in with Juice. Juice turned down a familiar street and then Matty realized that out of her own little mission, she forgot to call Wendy and tell her that she was safe or even to tell her what she was planning on doing.

Juice rode up to the bicycle's as everyone scrambled outside, all with panicked faces. Wendy pushed past the Sons of Anarchy and marched up to Matty. "What the hell, where have you been!" Wendy yelled as she grabbed onto Matty's arms and shook her violently, ignoring the fact that Juice was now here with her. "You could've at least told us when you left!"

"I'm sorry, I went off on my own"

"I noticed"

"It was something I had to do on my own" Matty backed away and brought her arm around Juice's waist as he brought his arm around her shoulder. "Sorry"

Wendy gave them a small smile. "It would've been nice to know what you were up to"

"Then you would've drove into Timberville"

"I know, but still" Wendy shrugged. "What if you needed help? With something"

"No..." Matty shook her head and looked up at Juice.

"Well, glad to see you both are okay" Wendy smiled to them then nudged over to the club house. "Let's get inside"

Matty put her hand into Juice's. "Let's go tell everyone what happened"

"Yeah" Juice smiled. "I'm dying to hear your part of the story, if that's alright. Can't guess forever"

Once they were all inside, the hugging began, then the drinks as a celebration on Juice's return. Chibs had pulled Juice over to the side and was talking to him for sometime, most likely to see if he was 100%. When the Scottish man was satisfied, Juice came over and sat with Matty as they all formed a circle to anxiously hear where Matty ran off to.

"I heard everything you guys said" Matty nodded over to Gemma and Jax. "About not finding Timberville's station"

"We figured you left after that"

"Yeah, then I went to find Roosevelt" Matty continued.

"What?" Juice asked, perplexed. "Why would you risk doing that?"

"If he saw how serious I was then I was hoping that he would cough you up on your location" Matty explained.

Juice chuckled. "Well, looks like you did a good job"

"Not exactly, but he gave me a certain direction" Matty informed them.

"Which was?" Juice asked. "I don't even know why they arrested me"

"Well, it's because of my parents" Matty slowly said. "They needed someone to take the fall for them. I.. When I ran away. They, uh, had a rough time holding up a deal... So, Peter threatened about telling the whole town about the bribe. So..."

"What bribe?" Wendy's voice boomed.

Matty turned to Wendy. "I was sort of an arranged marriage to them"

"What?" Wendy questioned. "Oh my God, Matty how did you find out... When... When did they make the bribe. I mean. I never heard of it"

"Well, after I broke into their house" Matty said.

"Wait" Tig stopped. "You broke into your parents house, you didn't have a key?"

"I did but I wanted to scare them" Matty showed them her cut up hand.

"Nice" Happy smiled.

Matty smiled to Happy and continued with her story. "I told my parents to confess and it turned out that they had a lot more skeletons then they actually let on"

"Which was what?" Opie asked.

"They hired someone to kill Peter Kane" Matty informed and watched as everyone's face turned into shock. "Turn's out, the guy just took the money and left"

"Matty, how in the hell did that happen?" Jax asked.

"My dad confessed"

"So now they think that the hired man actually killed Peter" Chibs said. "And Juice isn't a suspect anymore"

"Yup" Matty smiled. "So Juice was set free. Now everything's back to normal, right?"

"Semi" Juice shrugged.

"Right, semi" Matty nodded, correcting herself. "I'm glad"

Hours later, Juice unlocked the door to his nearly empty apartment. Juice didn't comment about how much bigger it had gotten from the day of cleaning up his stuff, he was too tired to care. Matty smiled as she watched him lead his way over to the bedroom, avoiding boxes as he went. She was glad that they didn't do anything to the bed yet.

"Finally!" Juice turned and laid down on his back. "I'm home. Well, on a bed, at least"

"I know" Matty climbed onto the bed and hugged him. "I'm glad your here"

"Well, I can't wait to get some sleep" Juice smiled.

"Then I'll see you in the morning" Matty turned up her head and kissed his jawbone.

"But I don't want to sleep" Juice complained.

"Why not, you haven't slept for almost two days" Matty said.

"I'm afraid that this is a dream, Matty" he finally said. "I don't know, that all of this is fake. And I'll wake up in the cell again"

"You won't" Matty gave him an Eskimo kiss. "Because you'll wake up in this bed with me"

Juice smiled as he felt himself drift off into sleep. "I love you"

Matty kissed him lightly on the lips. "And I love you"

She then nestled her head into Juice's shoulder and sighed as she listened to his heavy breathing and reflected on her life. Seven months ago, she woke up in a hospital bed after a failed suicide attempt and now, here she was, going to sleep with a man who has been down the road with her and now await a brighter future together in this life.

_**Hey everybody! Now for the people who can see changes instantly should've noticed that the user picture has changed into something else! I just recently did a poster for this story and if you want to see the whole thing then follow the directions! Go onto my homepage and copy and paste the URL of my posters and it should lead you to my posters that I do for my stories! Feel free to look around and I hope that you guys love this story! After this story is finished, I will post up a soundtrack that inspired me to write this story! Please review what you think of the story and the poster and thanks for all of the love & support! ~Phoebe**_


	40. Soundtrack

_**Shattered- Trading Yesterday (long version)**_

This song had me at 'yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding'. It made me think of how Juice failed at suicide and now he's been 'bleeding' out. The song shows how during the time they [Juice & Mathilde] wake up from the attempt they both see the world in a different perspective. How they both feel like they don't belong in this world anymore. The two lost souls didn't even find their answers until they met each other and that's when everything came into place. Eventually, Juice loses his contact with Roosevelt because he doesn't see the threat so harsh on him anymore and feels like Matty is the reason why he feels so courageous. Then they meet and it seems like there is this period of time where everything is right in the world and what they were meant to find within each other... and that is when their relationship is tested from the scars that led them to trying to commit suicide.

_**All We Are- One Republic**_

_**By Your Side- Tenth Avenue North**_

_**I Can't Break It To My Heart- Delta Goodrem**_

_**Love Remains the Same- Gavin Rossdale**_

_**Bruised- Jack's Mannequin**_

_**One Day- Trading Yesterday**_

_**Fix You- Coldplay**_

_**Fire and Rain- Mat Kearney**_

_**Broken Strings- James Morrison**_

_**Sweet and Low- Augustana**_

_**Slide- The Goo Goo Dolls**_

_**Whatever It Takes- Lifehouse**_


End file.
